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Tag: U.S. Open Tennis Championships

  • Need a vacation? Imagine how US Open tennis players feel during their long season

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka was on a boat. She was lounging by the pool. The reigning U.S. Open champion was anywhere, it seemed, except a tennis court.

    When the professional tours moved to North America for the hard-court tournaments ahead of the trip to New York — where the second round wraps up Thursday — the top-ranked Sabalenka instead was on the Greek island of Mykonos.

    “It was very important, because the season had been really intense at that point, and I felt like I was really low (on) energy,” said Sabalenka, who skipped an event in Montreal in late July. “I was motivated, of course, but it felt like everything was going really tough. I couldn’t show my best, and the body was really weak. I felt like, ‘OK, I need to take a little break and a little recharge and come back stronger.’”

    Many players understand. Their sport’s season is so long, and the offseason so short, that they don’t wait until the end of the year to chill.

    Sometimes, they figure, vacation must come during the season.

    “Because if not,” Alex de Minaur, an Australian seeded No. 8 at the U.S. Open, said of the grind, “it’s ongoing.”

    The tennis calendar is so full that players need in-season vacations

    De Minaur’s recent seasons didn’t end until late November because he was playing in the Davis Cup team competition — and the new seasons started in late December.

    So de Minaur and his fiancée, British player Katie Boulter, have been getting away from it all, even if it’s just for a week, after Wimbledon ends in July to have what he called “a little bit of a mental reset for the second part of the year.”

    Not everyone has the luxury, or even the desire, to do that, for various reasons.

    Some US Open players don’t think they can afford to take a break

    Sometimes, players are coming back from an injury absence and want to make up for lost time, lest their rankings drop too much. Or perhaps they’ve been playing well and want to keep the momentum going. Or find themselves in a rut they want to play their way out of.

    For someone like 37-year-old Adrian Mannarino of France, who in January 2024 became the oldest man to break into the ATP top 20, there is a benefit to embracing a philosophy that essentially amounts to “all work and no play.”

    “I’m the type of player who likes to (compete) a lot, so when I retire, that’s when I’m going to take a lot of vacations,” he said. “It’s sometimes hard to get out of the (playing) rhythm: Going on holiday to try to break the stress (of) mental things, then getting back to it, is not easy. And with my game, I feel like I need to play a lot to get the rhythm, and I don’t like to get out of my rhythm.

    “There’s a time for work and a time for holidays — and hopefully in the next few years, I’ll have more time for holidays.”

    Vacations during the season don’t exist in team sports, but they do in tennis

    The idea of taking vacation during the season doesn’t exist in team sports. For players in the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball, there is an ample offseason, even for clubs that win a championship, to travel and rest, then begin working out again.

    Boulter waited and wonders if it cost her. There was a need to add a tournament this summer to meet the WTA Tour requirement of six 500-level events, knowing she was going to be short one while playing on Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup team. She dropped four of five matches coming into the U.S. Open, then was eliminated in the first round.

    “The times that I should have had periods of break, I don’t really feel like I chose myself,” Boulter said. “I kind of chose other things bigger than myself, and I think that’s why I kind of ended up at this point.”

    US Open players can decide whether or not to hit the beach

    Ajla Tomljanovic, who lost to Coco Gauff in the first round in New York on Tuesday night, said the answer is simple: “It’s your choice whether you play or not,” she said. “So for me, if I need a break, and I feel like I want to go on a vacation, I take it.”

    She was planning for some practice after Wimbledon. But, like Sabalenka, Tomljanovic decided to hit the beach, instead.

    “I felt like there was enough time to sneak that in,” she said. “And also, it’s very good for my body, as well. I have to be mindful of it. I wasn’t complaining about a few days off.”

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    AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report.

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    AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • Coco Gauff loses 6-1, 6-2 to Amanda Anisimova in China Open semifinals

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    Coco Gauff, of the United States reacts during the women’s singles semifinals match against her compatriot Amanda Anisimova, in the China Open tennis tournament, at the National Tennis Center, in Beijing, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

    The Associated Press

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  • Serena and Venus Williams are launching a podcast called ‘Stockton Street’ on X

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    FILE – Serena Williams and Alicia Keys are seen after a match between Grigor Dimitrov, of Bulgaria, and Andrey Rublev, of Russia, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 1, in New York. 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, file)

    The Associated Press

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  • Carlos Alcaraz’s US Open title allows him to replace Jannik Sinner at No. 1 in the rankings

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz officially returned to No. 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time in two years on Monday, replacing Jannik Sinner there after beating him in the U.S. Open men’s final, and Amanda Anisimova jumped five spots to a career-best No. 4 in the WTA after finishing as the runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka.

    “When you achieve the goals you set up (for) yourself at the beginning of the year, it feels amazing,” Alcaraz said after winning his second title at Flushing Meadows and his sixth Grand Slam trophy.

    “For me,” he added, “(to) achieve that once again … is a dream.”

    Alcaraz moved up from No. 2 and swapped places with Sinner by virtue of a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over him in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.

    Sinner had held No. 1 since making his debut there in June 2024, a 65-week stay.

    Alcaraz first reached that spot in September 2022 at age 19 — making him the youngest No. 1 in ATP history — by claiming his first major championship at that year’s U.S. Open. He relinquished that ranking in September 2023.

    Alexander Zverev stayed at No. 3 on Monday, while Novak Djokovic, the 24-time major champion who lost to Alcaraz in Friday’s semifinals, went up three spots from No. 7 to No. 4.

    Sabalenka was assured of remaining at No. 1 by getting to the quarterfinals in New York, then wound up collecting her second U.S. Open title in a row with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win Saturday over Anisimova, a 24-year-old American.

    Anisimova’s second consecutive runner-up run at a major — she lost to Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final in July — allowed her to climb five spots from No. 9, part of a remarkable surge from outside the top 350 when she returned last season from a mental-health break.

    Swiatek, eliminated in the U.S. Open quarterfinals by Anisimova, stayed at No. 2, followed by Coco Gauff.

    Jessica Pegula slid from No. 4 to No. 7. She exited against Sabalenka in the semifinals last week, a year after losing to her in the U.S. Open final.

    Naomi Osaka’s first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2021 Australian Open — she lost Thursday to Anisimova in that round — carried her from No. 24 to No. 14. The four-time major champion and former No. 1 hadn’t been in the top 20 since January 2022.

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    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • No. 1 Jannik Sinner faces No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open final. President Trump is expected

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    NEW YORK — There is a lot at stake when No. 1 Jannik Sinner meets No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the U.S. Open men’s final on Sunday — with President Donald Trump expected to be at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

    Sinner, a 24-year-old from Italy, is trying to become the first repeat men’s champion at Flushing Meadows since Roger Federer won five championships in a row there from 2004 through 2008.

    He’s also bidding for his third Grand Slam title of the season, after the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and fifth of his career.

    Alcaraz, a 22-year-old from Spain, is seeking his sixth major trophy overall and second of 2025, after the French Open. His first Slam title came in New York in 2022 as a teenager — after defeating Sinner in the quarterfinals.

    Even though both are quite young, theirs is already quite a remarkable rivalry.

    Sunday’s showdown represents the first time in tennis history that the same two men played each other in three consecutive Grand Slam finals within a single season.

    This hard-court matchup follows Alcaraz’s victory over Sinner erasing a trio of match points on the French Open’s red clay in June, and Sinner’s victory over Alcaraz on Wimbledon’s grass in July.

    So this is a tiebreaker of sorts. Plus the winner will be at No. 1 in the rankings on Monday.

    No matter who comes out on top, this is the eighth consecutive major title — and 10th of the past 13 — that will end up in the hands of Sinner or Alcaraz.

    Sunday’s match is Sinner’s fifth final in a row at the biggest events in tennis, a run that began with his title at the U.S. Open a year ago. Since the start of that tournament, he has won 33 of 34 matches at the majors. The loss? To Alcaraz at Roland-Garros.

    Over the last two seasons, Sinner is 1-6 against Alcaraz and 109-4 against everyone else.

    Alcaraz, meanwhile, has won 36 of 37 contests since May. The loss? To Sinner at the All England Club — also Alcaraz’s first defeat in a Slam final. Alcaraz leads the tour in wins (60) and titles (six) in 2025 and has reached the finals at his past eight tournaments.

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    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • Amanda Anisimova defeats Naomi Osaka at the U.S. Open to reach her 2nd Grand Slam final in a row

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    NEW YORK — Amanda Anisimova eliminated four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a U.S. Open semifinal that ended at nearly 1 a.m. Friday and featured two of the most powerful first-strike hitters in women’s tennis.

    The No. 8-seeded Anisimova, a 24-year-old who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Florida, reached her second straight major final by coming through after 2 hours, 56 minutes.

    “I wasn’t sure I would make it past the finish line and I tried to dig deep,” said Anisimova, who needed three match points to get the job done. “It was a huge fight out there today.”

    When it was over, Anisimova yelled, “Let’s go!” and enjoyed the moment by kneeling on the court and leaning forward.

    She will face defending champion and current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday for the title. Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula in three sets on Thursday. Sabalenka owns three major trophies, all on hard courts.

    This is the fifth consecutive women’s final at a Slam involving an American woman.

    At Wimbledon in July, Anisimova had a Grand Slam breakthrough, upsetting Sabalenka in the semifinals — a result that increased the American’s edge in their head-to-head series to 6-3 — and making it all the way to the title match before losing 6-0, 6-0 to Iga Swiatek. But Anisimova recovered from that quickly enough and well enough to get past Swiatek in two sets in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

    Now Anisimova is the first opponent to beat Osaka — a former No. 1 player who was seeded No. 23 in New York — this late in a Grand Slam tournament. Before this loss, Osaka had been a combined 14-0 over her career in major quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, with two trophies apiece from the U.S. Open and Australian Open.

    “I mean, honestly I don’t feel sad. It’s really weird. Well, it’s not weird, because I just feel like I did the best that I could,” said Osaka, who took a series of mental-health breaks starting in 2021, then was away from the tour while having a daughter. “Honestly, it’s kind of inspiring for me, because it makes me just want to train and try to get better, and hopefully, just give it my very best shot again and see what happens. But I think I can’t be mad or upset at myself.”

    Anisimova first got to the final four at a major tournament at the 2019 French Open at age 17. In 2023, she took a break from the tour, saying she had been “ struggling with my mental health and burnout ” for nearly a year.

    At this time last season, Anisimova was ranked 50th and still working her way back. She’s most certainly back — and better than ever.

    Asked what allowed her to win against Osaka, Anisimova replied: “Oh, my God. I don’t know. I mean, Naomi is playing amazing tennis. She’s back where she belongs.”

    Well, Anisimova did it by forgetting about the opening set, and forgetting about a 6-5 deficit in the second.

    She also did it by not holding anything back down the stretch, going for — and delivering — big groundstrokes that usually landed deep in the court and right where she wanted them. That tends to be Osaka’s style, too, but she was not quite able to keep up in the late going and took some pills a trainer gave her after examining her left foot in the third set.

    “I wouldn’t say it’s a bigger challenge than I expected, because I kind of knew that she’s that type of player. It was just kind of funny at times, because there is no pattern to what she’s doing. It’s kind of like she just hits at the empty court or whatever, and it usually goes in,” Osaka said about taking on Anisimova. “Obviously she went to the finals of Wimbledon, and now she’s in the finals here, so it just shows that she’s a really good player.”

    Both players frequently went over to the corners of the court to look up at their coaches and trade words.

    Osaka showed frustration after getting broken in the second set by smacking a ball in anger off the blue court and then tossing her racket toward the sideline.

    Osaka pounded serves at up to 119 mph and produced 15 aces. Anisimova’s purest-in-the-sport backhand and almost-as-good forehand helped her compile 50 winners, 18 more than Osaka.

    “Sometimes, I was like, ‘How are we making these shots?’” Anisimova said. “But we were.”

    It’s true: Both were. But Anisimova made more.

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    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • For decades, US Open women’s champs got a smaller replica trophy than the men. Now they’re equal

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Coco Gauff was surprised at how much tinier the replica trophy she got to keep after winning this year’s French Open was than the trophy she posed with on court at Roland-Garros for all the world to see. She even did a TikTok about the discrepancy, drawing more than 2 million views.

    Why was Gauff so taken aback by what she called the “ miniature version ”?

    “I honestly did not know the size it was going to be. … I know you never really take the original, but when I won the U.S. Open, they gave me the same size (trophy), with my name engraved on it,” Gauff told The Associated Press. “So I just assumed that Roland Garros would be the same.”

    Actually, it turns out Gauff’s 2023 championship at the U.S. Open marked the first time the women’s singles winner in New York was given a silver cup significantly larger than the one that is used in the postmatch ceremony. Her replica hardware is 19 1/2 inches tall, the same as both the original and keepsake men’s trophies — and 7 1/2 inches bigger than the original women’s trophy.

    That one, like the original men’s, is displayed during the tournament in a locked glass box near where players enter the event’s main arena and will be briefly handed to, then taken away from, whoever wins the women’s final in Arthur Ashe Stadium this Saturday.

    From 1987, when the tradition of providing keepsakes at Flushing Meadows began, until two years ago, the female champion took home a 12-inch-tall copy. But the U.S. Tennis Association asked Tiffany & Co. to create replicas for the women to match the size of what the men are allowed to keep. That change coincided with the 50th anniversary of the tournament’s 1973 move to pay equal prize money to women and men at then-player Billie Jean King’s urging.

    “Equality is in our DNA here at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Everything we do, we’re very intentional about equality … and we wanted to do the same as it relates to the champion’s trophies,” U.S. Open tournament director Stacey Allaster said in an interview.

    “We had a very robust conversation: Should we recreate a new women’s singles champion’s trophy? In the end, we made the decision to stay with history and to not change the trophy itself, but to ensure that the replica trophy was of the same size as the men’s,” said Allaster, who is the chief executive of professional tennis at the USTA. “Trophies are so iconic to the history of this championships, and we just didn’t feel it was the right thing to move away from that history, but … (we wanted) to be able to award the singles champions the same sizes.”

    King wasn’t aware of the switch until the AP asked her about it.

    “I did not know they did that. It’s fantastic. It’s equal,” King said. “It sends very positive messaging that we matter just as much. Our trophy’s just as big.”

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    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • For decades, US Open women’s champs got a smaller replica trophy than the men. Now they’re equal

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Coco Gauff was surprised at how much tinier the replica trophy she got to keep after winning this year’s French Open was than the trophy she posed with on court at Roland-Garros for all the world to see. She even did a TikTok about the discrepancy, drawing more than 2 million views.

    Why was Gauff so taken aback by what she called the “ miniature version ”?

    “I honestly did not know the size it was going to be. … I know you never really take the original, but when I won the U.S. Open, they gave me the same size (trophy), with my name engraved on it,” Gauff told The Associated Press. “So I just assumed that Roland Garros would be the same.”

    Actually, it turns out Gauff’s 2023 championship at the U.S. Open marked the first time the women’s singles winner in New York was given a silver cup significantly larger than the one that is used in the postmatch ceremony. Her replica hardware is 19 1/2 inches tall, the same as both the original and keepsake men’s trophies — and 7 1/2 inches bigger than the original women’s trophy.

    That one, like the original men’s, is displayed during the tournament in a locked glass box near where players enter the event’s main arena and will be briefly handed to, then taken away from, whoever wins the women’s final in Arthur Ashe Stadium this Saturday.

    From 1987, when the tradition of providing keepsakes at Flushing Meadows began, until two years ago, the female champion took home a 12-inch-tall copy. But the U.S. Tennis Association asked Tiffany & Co. to create replicas for the women to match the size of what the men are allowed to keep. That change coincided with the 50th anniversary of the tournament’s 1973 move to pay equal prize money to women and men at then-player Billie Jean King’s urging.

    “Equality is in our DNA here at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Everything we do, we’re very intentional about equality … and we wanted to do the same as it relates to the champion’s trophies,” U.S. Open tournament director Stacey Allaster said in an interview.

    “We had a very robust conversation: Should we recreate a new women’s singles champion’s trophy? In the end, we made the decision to stay with history and to not change the trophy itself, but to ensure that the replica trophy was of the same size as the men’s,” said Allaster, who is the chief executive of professional tennis at the USTA. “Trophies are so iconic to the history of this championships, and we just didn’t feel it was the right thing to move away from that history, but … (we wanted) to be able to award the singles champions the same sizes.”

    King wasn’t aware of the switch until the AP asked her about it.

    “I did not know they did that. It’s fantastic. It’s equal,” King said. “It sends very positive messaging that we matter just as much. Our trophy’s just as big.”

    ___

    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • Amanda Anisimova upsets Iga Swiatek at the U.S. Open after 6-0, 6-0 loss to her in Wimbledon’s final

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    Amanda Anisimova, of the United States, reacts after scoring a point against Iga Swiatek, of Poland, during the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

    The Associated Press

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  • Novak Djokovic does ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ dance at US Open for his daughter’s birthday

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    Novak Djokovic has celebrated beating Taylor Fritz in the U.S. Open quarterfinals with some dance moves to music from the hit movie “KPop Demon Hunters” that were taught to him by his daughter, Tara

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic celebrated beating Taylor Fritz in the U.S. Open quarterfinals with some dance moves to music from the hit movie “KPop Demon Hunters” that were taught to him by his daughter, Tara, who turned 8 on Tuesday.

    After meeting Fritz at the net when the 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win was over, Djokovic began his little jig in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

    The 24-time Grand Slam champion called the victory “a big present for” Tara, who is not at Flushing Meadows.

    Djokovic figures Tara will rate his performance when she watches it Wednesday.

    “We are at home doing different choreographies, and this is one of them,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll make her smile when she wakes up in the morning.”

    He explained during his on-court interview that the dance is based on “KPop Demon Hunters,” the Sony Pictures/Netflix movie that has topped the streamer’s global rankings. Fans have flooded the internet with art, covers, cosplay and choreography connected to film, which follows the fictional K-pop girl group HUNTR/X as they fight demons.

    The “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Soundtracks chart and No. 8 on the all-genre Billboard 200.

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    More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • Naomi Osaka back in a Grand Slam quarterfinal at US Open. She doesn’t lose once there

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    NEW YORK — Once Naomi Osaka is in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, look out.

    For a while, it was getting there that was the problem.

    Right now, Osaka appears to be back at her best, and she most definitively is back at that stage of a major, getting ready to face Karolina Muchova at the U.S. Open on Wednesday for a spot in the semifinals.

    It’s the first time Osaka — who has been ranked No. 1 and now is seeded No. 23 — has made it this far at one of the four most important events in tennis since the Australian Open in early 2021. That was also the last time she won a Slam trophy.

    So far in her career, the 27-year-old Osaka has left with the championship every time she got past the fourth round at any major, something she did at Flushing Meadows on Monday with a dominant win against No. 3 seed Coco Gauff by a 6-3, 6-2 score in barely more than an hour.

    “She seems relaxed out there. … She forced me to play how I did today,” Gauff observed. “Regardless (of) whatever form she’s in, she’s always a tough player, and I don’t think anyone takes her for granted, regardless of where her ‘form’ is, especially on hard courts.”

    Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion, always on that surface — winning in New York in 2018 and 2020, plus twice more at Melbourne Park — thanks to going a combined 12-0 in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

    Osaka was asked about that unbeaten mark.

    “I wouldn’t say it gives me pressure or confidence. I think for me, you know, this is kind of unchartered territory at this point of my career,” Osaka said, referring to the 4 1/2-year gap. “I’m just enjoying it. I’m having fun. I’m being able to play against the best players in the world.”

    It was later in 2021, at the French Open. that she revealed that she had been dealing with anxiety and depression, then began taking a series of mental health breaks. She later missed 17 months for maternity leave; her daughter, Shai, was born in July 2023.

    Two months after that, Osaka came to the U.S. Open and sat in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch while Gauff beat Muchova in the semifinals en route to the title.

    The 11th-seeded Muchova, a 29-year-old from the Czech Republic, is a talented all-court player who is as creative with her racket as anyone in the game. She was the runner-up to Iga Swiatek on the French Open’s red clay in 2023 and also has reached the semifinals on the hard courts at Flushing Meadows each of the last two years — eliminating Osaka in the second round in 2024.

    “She’s a great player. I think she picked up her form again and she’s getting better and better. We can see (from) her results,” said Muchova, who got past Venus Williams in the first round last week. “We practiced here, actually. So I expect a really tough battle. It’s going to be a challenge, for sure.”

    As for what’s changed about Osaka over the course of her latest comeback, Muchova thinks the main thing is getting in a rhythm by competing more.

    Osaka, equipped with a huge serve and huge forehand, has pushed top players over the last 1 1/2 years but hasn’t always been able to quite get to the finish line, including when she held a match point but wasn’t able to win a marvelous contest against Swiatek at Roland-Garros in 2024.

    “The difference, I think, is she just now (has) more matches under her belt, (and is) winning matches, and I’d say … she (has) that belief again that she can be the best, and trust her strokes more,” Muchova said. “Playing really fast, really good.”

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    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • Photo highlights from third- and fourth-round matches at the US Open

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    This gallery, curated by AP photo editors, showcases third- and fourth-round matches at the US Open.

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    AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek roll into the quarterfinals at the US Open

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    NEW YORK — Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek rolled into the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, showing off what once made each of them the top-ranked women’s tennis player in the world.

    Osaka dominated Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-2 in their highly anticipated showdown Monday in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Swiatek rallied from down 3-1 in the first set to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-1.

    “At the beginning, I felt like she was playing really fast,” said Swiatek, who is seeking her second U.S. Open title and seventh in a Grand Slam. “I wanted to find my rhythm, but later on I really felt like I was in my bubble and in my zone.”

    Osaka, in the quarterfinals at a major for the first time since 2021, is set to face No. 11 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic for a spot in the semifinals. Up next for Swiatek is American Amanda Anisimova in a rematch of her 6-0, 6-0 victory in the Wimbledon final.

    The No.8-seeded Anisimova reached her first U.S. Open quarterfinal by beating No. 16 Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-0, 6-3.

    On the men’s side, 25th-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced by defeating Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in a match in Arthur Ashe Stadium that took just over two hours.

    Auger-Aliassime won for just the second time in nine career matches against Rublev, the No. 15 seed who slammed his racket after losing a point in the second set.

    “As I won the first set, I felt like I was in control of the match,” said Auger-Aliassime, who at age 25 is in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time. ”Good win considering our head-to-head, considering how good he is as a player.”

    Alex de Minaur of Australia and Lorenzo Musetti of Italy advanced to the quarters by winning in straight sets. De Minaur is set to play Auger-Aliassime next. Top-seeded Jannik Sinner routed Alexander Bublik, the only player other than Carlos Alcaraz to beat him this season, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. The defending champion will face Musetti, the No. 10 seed, on Wednesday. Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez advanced to the quarterfinals of women’s doubles by beating the 12th-seeded duo of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai. Afterward, Venus said it was time for her sister, Serena, to show up.

    Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz faces Jiri Lehecka in one men’s quarterfinal. It’s American Taylor Fritz against four-time U.S. Open champion Novak Djokovic in the other, with the winners meeting in the semifinals Friday. In the women’s quarterfinals, Jessica Pegula plays Barbora Krejcikova, and top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka goes up against Marketa Vondrousova. Williams and Fernandez play against the top-seeded team of Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.

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  • Sinner back in US Open quarters by routing Bublik

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    NEW YORK — Jannik Sinner was so dominant Monday night at the U.S. Open that his opponent had to remind him after the match that he’s not that bad of a player.

    Sinner sure made Alexander Bublik look like one, though.

    Sinner overwhelmed the only player other than Carlos Alcaraz who has defeated him this season, routing Bublik 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to return to the quarterfinals of the tournament he won last year.

    The top-seeded Sinner’s victory took just 1 hour, 21 minutes, the second-shortest completed match in the tournament. A first-round victory for Tomas Machac was a minute shorter.

    “At times I felt like today I was playing some great tennis, and I managed to break him very early, which then gave me the confidence to serve a little bit better and play from the back of the court a bit better,” Sinner said.

    “It was a faster, or a fast match.”

    Sinner lost to Bublik in June in Halle, Germany, in a warm-up tournament before Wimbledon, but that was played on a grass court. Trying to beat the defending U.S. Open champion on a hard court is an entirely different story — and almost impossible these days.

    Sinner has won 25 straight Grand Slam matches on that surface, including the last two Australian Open titles, along with his first U.S. Open trophy last year.

    He will face fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No. 10 seed, on Wednesday. The other quarterfinal that day will pit No. 8 Alex de Minaur against No. 25 Felix Auger-Aliassime.

    Bublik, the No. 23 seed from Kazakhstan, had been one of the hottest players in tennis, with an ATP Tour-leading 11 straight victories and three titles, which is tied for the second-best this year behind Alcaraz’s six.

    He had won all 55 service games coming into this match, yet Sinner broke him eight times.

    Bublik could only smile at times, including after the match, when he told Sinner at the net that “I’m not bad.”

    But he wasn’t nearly good enough against Sinner, who had an 86-46 advantage in points won. Bublik helped by committing 13 double-faults.

    Sinner noted that Bublik had a late finish Saturday night in his five-set victory over No. 14 seed Tommy Paul, and tried to test his energy level Monday in his first night match of this tournament.

    “I tried to move him around, trying to see how he moves, trying to put it more on the physical side,” Sinner said. “Today I played some good tennis at times. At times he gave me some free points.”

    Sinner improved to 35-4 this year. Alcaraz beat him in the French Open final and also in Rome and Cincinnati — where Sinner was ill and had to stop playing in the first set.

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  • Get ready for Coco Gauff vs. Naomi Osaka at the US Open. It’s been 6 years since their first matchup

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka set up a high-profile showdown between two past title winners in the U.S. Open’s fourth round with victories Saturday.

    “Everyone will be watching,” Venus Williams said. “That’s what tennis needs.”

    Their meeting on Monday, with a quarterfinal berth at stake, is a rematch from 2019, when Gauff was a 15-year-old making her main-draw debut at Flushing Meadows and Osaka was the reigning champion.

    Osaka won that one in straight sets, then consoled a teary Gauff on the sideline and encouraged her to speak to an Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that was pulling for the young American.

    “I kind of see her as a little sister,” Osaka said Saturday, “so it’s kind of cool to be playing her here again.”

    She advanced to her first fourth-round match at any major since the 2021 Australian Open by eliminating No. 15 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 at Louis Armstrong Stadium, after Gauff made it that far at the U.S. Open for the fourth consecutive year with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 28 Magdalena Frech at Ashe.

    “It’s been a really long journey,” Osaka said during her on-court interview, “but I’m glad to be here now.”

    Osaka, who was born in Japan and moved with her family to the United States as a kid, joked to the Armstrong fans: “Can somebody come to the match and cheer for me? It’s kind of tough playing an American here, but I hope you guys adopted me, as well.”

    So much has happened to both Osaka and Gauff since that headline-worthy encounter six years ago in New York.

    The No. 3-seeded Gauff, 21, is now a two-time Grand Slam champ, including at the U.S. Open in 2023, and a real star.

    No. 23 Osaka, 27, owns four major titles — including at the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020 — and has been ranked No. 1. She was among the athletes at the forefront of conversations about mental health, opening up at the 2021 French Open about dealing with anxiety and depression, then taking a series of breaks from the tour.

    “Naomi and I, we aren’t super close or anything, but we’re definitely friendly with each other,” Gauff said. “I support her from afar in all the things that she’s done — on and off the court.”

    Gauff has won three of their four head-to-head matches since that unforgettable night in Ashe.

    “I remember it was a tough moment for me, because it was a hyped-up match. … I guess I put way too much pressure on myself, thinking I maybe had a chance in that moment to actually do something, which I definitely did, but I think it was just I felt more expectation than I should than maybe belief,” Gauff said.

    “It would be a cool, kind of, deja vu type of situation,” Gauff said Saturday, “but hopefully it will be a different result.”

    Williams and Leylah Fernandez reached the third round of women’s doubles with a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win over Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi. The 45-year-old Williams is playing doubles at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2022.

    No. 1 Jannik Sinner dropped a set in New York for the first time since last year’s quarterfinals but righted himself for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 27 Denis Shapovalov. Other men moving on included Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who knocked off third-seeded Alexander Zverev, and No. 10 Lorenzo Musetti, whose opponent in an all-Italian match, No. 23 Flavio Cobolli, stopped because of a painful right arm. Women into the fourth round included No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who rallied from down 5-1 in the first set to win, and No. 11 Karolina Muchova — a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2023 and 2024 and the woman who beat Williams in the first round this year.

    Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula are among the players who will be attempting to reach the quarterfinals by winning Sunday.

    ___

    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • The unwritten rules of tennis and why postmatch handshakes sometimes go awry at the US Open

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    NEW YORK — There’s been a lot of talk about the unwritten rules of tennis during Week 1 of this U.S. Open, whether it’s the necessity of a “ sorry, not sorry ” raised hand after a let cord or the proper way to warm up with an opponent or the legitimacy of an underarm serve.

    Another part of the game drawing attention — thanks to players’ complaints about each of the above — is the postmatch greeting at the net, which usually involves shaking hands and, sometimes, a hug or kisses on the cheek. It would seem to be a simple act of sportsmanship, but every so often ends up going awry.

    Not every contest in every sport ends with that sort of civility, but it is an entrenched ritual in tennis, from kids starting out to the pros, even if the word “handshake” never appears in the 61-page Grand Slam rule book.

    “You do it in the juniors. You do it your whole life. It’s part of the fabric of our sport,” said Brad Gilbert, a former player and coach who is part of ESPN’s cast in New York.

    “You’ve got to win with class,” he said, “and lose with dignity.”

    Chris Evert, who won 18 majors in the 1970s and ’80s, said: “I never had a bad moment at the net with anyone.”

    That’s hardly the case for everyone — as two episodes at the U.S. Open showed.

    Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion from Latvia, got into a dustup with Taylor Townsend, the No. 1-ranked doubles player from the U.S., after clasping hands following Townsend’s victory.

    Instead of going their separate ways, the athletes exchanged words, with Ostapenko pointing a finger at Townsend, who is Black, and calling her “uneducated.” Ostapenko was upset that Townsend didn’t apologize after a ball hit the net tape and went over (that’s not actually a rule) and started their warmup with volleys instead of groundstrokes (not a rule, either).

    “Ostapenko,” Gilbert said, “was ridiculous.”

    On Thursday, another net encounter went badly when the loser, two-time Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, let the winner, Daniel Altmaier, know he hadn’t appreciated an underarm serve — which is allowed.

    Rather than engage, Altmaier turned his back on Tsitsipas.

    “In the heat of the moment, you can stay stuff which you (wouldn’t) normally … say (and) you regret afterward,” Altmaier said, adding that he’s not a fan of “discussions at the net.”

    Neither is 20th-seeded Jiri Lehecka, who thinks conflicts are better resolved “in the locker room, behind closed doors,” instead of in front of a crowd and TV audience.

    Tense moments at the net are not merely a U.S. Open phenomenon, and there’s a segment of tennis social media that chronicles every half-hearted handshake.

    “Some people don’t really have a lot of things to do throughout the day, so they pay a lot of attention to this,” said 21st-seeded Linda Noskova.

    So folks noticed when Ben Shelton and Flavio Cobolli had a back-and-forth after a match in Canada this month. Or when Danielle Collins gave Iga Swiatek an earful about being “insincere” at the Paris Olympics. Or when Taylor Fritz sarcastically told a Wimbledon opponent to “ have a nice flight home ” after beating him in 2024.

    “Maybe if I didn’t like someone really, really hard, then probably — maybe — I wouldn’t want to shake hands with them,” said Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam champion, “but besides that … it’s good to congratulate someone if you lost.”

    Andrea Petkovic, a 2014 French Open semifinalist who retired three years ago, enjoyed getting glimpses of the “persona of the player.”

    She chuckled while recounting a loss to Serena Williams in Rome: “At the end, she said to me, ‘Nice try.’”

    No one wants to see this tradition go away, although two-time major semifinalist Maria Sakkari knows there are “going to be incidents where people don’t like each other.”

    “We are … from different countries, different cultures,” Sakkari said. “It’s normal that two people are going to fall out.”

    And not only after a match.

    Gilbert nearly came to blows during what he called “a big tiff” with David Wheaton at the 1990 Grand Slam Cup, before an official separated them. Wheaton was upset about an overrule; things escalated from there.

    “Got pretty heated,” Gilbert said, “but afterward, we still shook hands.”

    ___

    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • So far, so good for Naomi Osaka and her new coach at the US Open

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Naomi Osaka is back in the third round of the U.S. Open for the first time since 2021, the year after she won her second championship at Flushing Meadows.

    She’s playing rather well at the moment, too, under the guidance of a new coach. Just don’t expect Osaka to weigh in on whether she feels as if she is ready to make another deep run at the place.

    “Honestly, I don’t really know. I don’t make it my business to know anymore. I kind of just leave it up in the air,” the 23rd-seeded Osaka said after eliminating Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1 in the second round in just 70 minutes Thursday. “For me, I realize that I’ve done everything that I could. I’ve trained really hard. I practiced really hard. If it happens, it happens.”

    Osaka’s four Grand Slam trophies all arrived on hard courts: two at the U.S. Open, two at the Australian Open. Since her 2020 title in New York, her trips there have gone this way: losses in the third round in 2021, first round in 2022, second round last year.

    The surface tends to favor the big serves and powerful, first-strike tennis Osaka is best known for, and something she displayed against Baptiste, of course, although she also demonstrated a willingness to vary speeds and spins.

    The other talent Osaka is using to great effect so far this week is returning that gets an opponent on the defensive. Osaka already has won 11 of the 18 return games she’s played so far, including during a 6-3, 6-4 win over Greet Minnen in the first round.

    After her third-round exit at Wimbledon last month, Osaka split from coach Patrick Mouratoglou and began working with Tomasz Wiktorowski, who used to be part of Iga Swiatek’s team.

    One key, Osaka said: Wiktorowski has encouraged her to focus more on the placement of her shots “and not necessarily going for winners most of the time.”

    They appear to be making quick progress — and Osaka said her impression of him changed quickly.

    “Honestly, I didn’t know him, I thought he was very scary, because he’s very tall and he didn’t smile,” she said. “Now that we’re working together, I see that he smiles often. He has a very friendly smile, and it’s very nice. That’s my little fun fact about Tomasz.”

    Venus Williams earned her first win in a U.S. Open women’s doubles match since 2014 — and this time, her partner wasn’t younger sister Serena but Leylah Fernandez. The 45-year-old Williams, who recently returned to the tour after a 16-month absence, and Fernandez eliminated the sixth-seeded pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez 7-6 (4), 6-3.

    Wimbledon champions Swiatek and Jannik Sinner both won — his victory was much more straightforward than hers. Swiatek had some trouble before getting past Suzan Lamens, a Dutch player ranked 66th who’d never appeared at a Grand Slam tournament until this year, by a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 score. Sinner was just fine in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win against Alexei Popyrin, who beat Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open a year ago.

    Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 men’s champion, and Jessica Pegula, the 2024 women’s runner-up, play their third-round matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium during the day session. Djokovic, owner of 24 Grand Slam titles, meets Cam Norrie in Ashe at night, followed by American Taylor Townsend — who got into a back-and-forth with her opponent, Jelena Ostapenko, after their second-round match — against No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old from Russia.

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  • Coco Gauff’s 1st match with new serve coach a struggle but also a win

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    NEW YORK — Coco Gauff’s first match since enlisting someone to help with her shaky serving got off to a rocky start at the U.S. Open on Tuesday night. She double-faulted in the very first game — and a total of 10 times. She got broken in that game, too — and a total of six times.

    The only numbers that truly counted in the end, of course, were the ones on the Arthur Ashe Stadium scoreboard, and those showed that the No. 3-seeded Gauff held on for a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 victory over Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows.

    “It wasn’t the best,” Gauff said, “but I’m happy to get through.”

    Nothing came easily. Gauff twice led by a break in the second set but couldn’t end things. She went up 5-3 in the third and served for the victory at 5-4, but double-faulted twice in a row and missed a pair of forehands to make it 5-all.

    “Staying close also puts her under pressure to serve it out,” Tomljanovic said. “In the first round, even if you’re Coco, it’s never easy.”

    That slip-up could have been too much to take for Gauff. Instead, she steadied herself, broke right back, then was able to serve it out on her second chance to do so, nearly three full hours after the contest began.

    “I had so many chances. … I was just like, ‘Eventually, one of these is going to go my way,’” she said.

    Gauff, who won the first of her two Grand Slam titles at the 2023 U.S. Open as a teenager, added Gavin MacMillan to her coaching team shortly before the start of this tournament. MacMillan is a biomechanics expert who helped current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka retool her serve a few years ago, and he was in the first row of Gauff’s guest box, seated right in front of her mother.

    After beating Tomljanovic, Gauff called her practices with MacMillan “really tough” and “mentally exhausting.”

    “I was spending a lot of time on court, literally serving until, like, my shoulder was hurting,” Gauff said. “I feel like it’s (going) in the right direction, and I think for me, it’s trying not to go back to old habits in those tighter moments, and I think I did that today, especially in the third set.”

    The problem for Gauff, in a nutshell, has been a propensity to accumulate double-faults. Her 320 entering the U.S. Open were the most on the women’s tour this season — and more than 100 more than anyone else. That included 23 in one match earlier this month, then 14 the next time out.

    On Tuesday, as she dealt with the work-in-progress of a tweaked service motion, Gauff began with much slower offerings than she’s capable of striking. As the match progressed, and the tension rose, the 21-year-old from Florida reverted to her customary pace, going from averaging just 88 mph on first serves in the first set, to 97 mph in the second and 101 in the third, when Ashe’s retractable roof was closed. She cranked one in at 117 mph and even produced one second-serve ace.

    What won this one against the 79th-ranked Tomljanovic, an Australian best known for defeating Serena Williams at the 2022 U.S. Open in the 23-time major champion’s final match of her career, was Gauff’s exemplary court coverage and terrific backhand. Appropriately, a down-the-line backhand converted match point, and Gauff waved her arms overhead to rile up the crowd.

    Even as Tomljanovic swung away on her big forehand, it was Gauff who got the best of their lengthy exchanges from the baseline.

    She also fared well when she pressed forward, winning 12 of the 15 points she ended at the net, including one with a leaping, over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-net volley winner in the third set

    This was Gauff’s first match at a Slam since stumbling to a first-round exit at Wimbledon in July, a setback that followed her championship at the French Open in June.

    As Gauff moves forward at Flushing Meadows, there is a chance she can overtake Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the rankings and rise to No. 1 for the first time.

    ___

    Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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  • Australian Open champion Madison Keys loses in the US Open’s first round to Renata Zarazua of Mexico

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    NEW YORK — Pretty much from the get-go at the U.S. Open on Monday, Madison Keys could tell she wasn’t hitting the ball well or feeling very much at all like the self-confident player who claimed her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

    After 89 unforced errors, including 14 double-faults, the No. 6-seeded Keys was gone from Flushing Meadows in the first round with a 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), 7-5 loss to 82nd-ranked Renata Zarazua of Mexico.

    “For the first time in a while … my nerves really got the better of me, and it kind of became a little bit paralyzing,” said Keys, the runner-up in New York to good friend Sloane Stephens in 2017 and a semifinalist in 2018 and 2023. “I felt like I was just slow. I wasn’t seeing things the way that I wanted to, which I feel like resulted in a lot of bad decisions and lazy footwork.”

    Her first U.S. Open with the status of major champion — thanks to defeating No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Melbourne Park — was over just as it began.

    “You always kind of feel first-round jitters and, as the day is getting closer, feeling a little bit more and more nervous,” said Keys, who played with her left thigh heavily taped. “But I feel like, for whatever reason, today I just couldn’t separate myself from … feeling like winning matters just way too much.”

    She made so many mistakes off the spin-laden shots coming her way that Zarazua needed to produce just eight winners to earn the biggest victory of her career. Zarazua lost in the first or second round of all eight of her previous Slam appearances.

    Yet somehow, it was Zarazua who managed to deal with any nervousness better, even though she was competing in cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time and had only had a chance to hit there once a couple of days prior.

    The 5-foot-3 Zarazua came into the day with a 0-6 record against opponents ranked in the top 10.

    “I’m a little bit small in height, so coming in here, it was like: ‘Oh, my God. This is huge,’” Zarazua said about the largest stadium in tennis, which holds nearly 24,000 spectators.

    When the match ended with Keys missing a forehand, Zarazua smiled as wide as possible, held her racket atop her head, then placed a hand over her face.

    This one certainly was memorable, in part because it did not come easily and lasted 3 hours, 10 minutes.

    Zarazua trailed by a set — after frittering away five chances to take the opener — and 3-0 in the second.

    Quite a daunting deficit. But she never went away.

    “Kudos to her for making me play a lot of balls today,” Keys said. “I mean, she’s a tricky player.”

    While Keys was one of 25 American players in the women’s singles draw, the 27-year-old Zarazua is Mexico’s lone entrant in the bracket. She moved to San Antonio as a teen, and is now based in Florida.

    “In Mexico, yeah, it’s probably not the most famous sport,” Zarazua said about tennis, which she picked up after starting out in gymnastics and diving.

    “I got into tennis,” she explained, “just because my brother was playing, and he was like, ‘I think this is a bit safer sport.’”

    Brazilian teenager João Fonseca, who turned 19 on Thursday, won his U.S. Open debut, defeating Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3 in front of a raucous crowd of his countrymen. Another precocious player, 18-year-old Canadian Vicky Mboko, who was seeded 22nd, was eliminated by two-time major champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who is 35, played her last match before retirement, losing to Diane Parry 6-1, 6-0, and 2022 U.S. Open semifinalist Caroline Garcia, 31, also exited the final tournament of her career, eliminated 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 by Kamilla Rakhimova. Frances Tiafoe, a two-time semifinalist in New York, beat Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets. At night, Venus Williams lost her first Grand Slam match in two years, before Carlos Alcaraz showed up with a new buzz cut and beat Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

    A packed program for Day 3 of the first round includes Grand Slam champions Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner. Gauff’s opponent is Ajla Tomljanovic, who beat Serena Williams at the U.S. Open in the last match of 23-time major title winner’s career. This is Gauff’s first match since she began working with biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan in a bid to improve her serve.

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  • Djokovic jokes that he’s challenging Serena Williams to come back to tennis

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    NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic thinks he came up with a way to get Serena Williams back on the tennis tour: Dare her to do it.

    A night after Williams stunned the tennis world by showing up to help induct rival Maria Sharapova into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Djokovic said he thought that was “a beautiful moment.”

    “It was surprising, but a very nice gesture from Serena to be there for Maria,” Djokovic said Sunday night after winning his first-round match at the U.S. Open. “They had some really intense rivalries and incredible matches over the years.”

    Then he turned his thoughts to Williams, she of the 23 Grand Slam singles titles, one fewer than Djokovic’s total.

    Williams left tennis after playing at the 2022 U.S. Open, saying at the time she preferred to think of herself as “evolving” away from the sport rather than retiring.

    “Of course, seeing Serena in any shape or form around tennis is great. You know, we miss her,” Djokovic said, then added with a wry smile: “She still hasn’t officially retired.”

    And then he added: “So I invite her. I challenge her. Because she’s such a great competitor, when somebody challenges her, she never refuses. So I challenge Serena: Come back on the tour next year.”

    Williams turns 44 next month. Her older sister, Venus, who is 45, will be playing in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in two years at the U.S. Open on Monday night, after returning to the tour in July.

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