VSaroline Garcia, French number 1 and 17e world, qualified for her first quarter-final at the US Open on Sunday by beating the American Alison Riske (29e) 6-4, 6-1 in 1:22. “Alison is a very tough player, a fighter, she moves a lot. I had to be very aggressive. The first set was tight, it was not great tennis, I had to manage my emotions. The second run was very good”, analyzed Garcia. At 28, the French number 1, who had never passed the third round of the New York Major, thus equals her best result in a grand slam tournament, having already played the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros in 2017.
She will try to do even better on Tuesday against the American Coco Gauff (12e), finalist of the last Roland-Garros, who dismissed 7-5, 7-5 the Chinese Shuai Zhang (36e). “I’m so excited to be in the quarter, I’ve built up a lot of confidence since Cincinnati,” said the Frenchwoman, referring to her WTA 1000 title just before the start of the US Open.
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Defending champion eliminated in men
Against Riske, who had beaten her in their previous three meetings, Garcia took a set to break free. But on a winning return, she completed the first set by achieving the only break of the set. The lock jumped and the Lyonnaise clearly dominated the second set, even if it took her five match points to conclude, after also saving three break points for the American.
Daniil Medvedev, defending champion, was eliminated from the 8are final of the US Open, beaten 7-6 (13/11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 by Nick Kyrgios (25e) Sunday in New York. With this defeat, he is certain to lose his place as world number 1, which will fall either to Rafael Nadal (3e), Carlos Alcaraz (4e) or Casper Ruud (5e), all three still in contention. The Australian, who is entering this stage of the New York Major for the first time, will try to do better against another Russian, Karen Khachanov (31e).