NEW YORK — With the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd chanting his name, 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz upset third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 0-6, 7-6 (7-5) at the US Open.
Alcaraz, the teenager from Spain, used powerful groundstrokes in an entertaining match to knock off Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas can take all the long bathroom breaks he wants from home. The controversial Greek tennis player faced an unfriendly crowd again in large part because of his lengthy breaks in the bathroom.
Alcaraz easily pulled off the biggest win of his career and is in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time in his career. He was down, 5-2, in the third set but kept pushing in a match that stretched past four hours.
Alcaraz thanked the crowd, absent last year because of the pandemic, for “pushing me up in the fifth set.” He became the breakout start of the US Open and had fans chanting “Carlos! Carlos!” with each big winner.
Two-time Grand Slam champions Garbiñe Muguruza and Simona Halep both pulled out three-set victories to reach the fourth round of the year’s final Grand Slam tournament.
Muguruza beat three-time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to match her best showing in New York.
The No. 9 seed from Spain reached the round of 16 in 2017, right after winning her Wimbledon title. She hadn’t been past the second round since, though said she’s always liked playing in New York despite her struggles.
“This year so far it’s working, so I just want to keep going,” Muguruza said.
Same with Halep, who fought through a marathon first-set tiebreaker and eventually beat Elena Rybakina, 7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the US Open fourth round for the first time since 2016.
Daniil Medvedev had a much easier time, as he has the entire first week. The No. 2 seed and 2019 runner-up beat Pablo Andujar, 6-0, 6-4, 6-3, and has dropped just 22 games in three rounds.
Both Muguruza and Halep have been finalists at the Australian Open, also played on a hard court. But the US Open had proven a more difficult puzzle for both — more difficult than Halep even realized.
She said during her interview on the court after the match that it was good to be playing this late in the US Open for the first time in three years. Her brother sent her a message saying it was actually two years longer.
“I correct it now,” she said during her news conference.
Halep had lost in the first round in both 2017 and 2018 — the latter the first time that had happened to the No. 1 seed in the first round at the US Open — and her success this time was tough to expect after she missed Wimbledon and the French Open with a calf injury.
The No. 12 seed from Romania needed seven set points to finally win the tiebreaker — after she was broken at love when serving for the set at 6-5.
She eventually won it when the 19th-seeded Rybakina double-faulted, then worked her way to the round of 16 for the first time since reaching the quarterfinals in 2016.
“I know that every match is a battle,” Halep said. “But I’m there, and if I’m healthy, I’m confident that I can play my game.”
Muguruza will next play No. 8 seed Barbora Krejcikova, the French Open champion who is into the fourth round in her debut in the main draw of the US Open.
Angelique Kerber won a matchup of previous USOpen champions when she beat Sloane Stephens, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 at the US Open.
The reward for the 16th-seeded Kerber? A potential date with No. 3 seed and defending champion Naomi Osaka.
Kerber, the 2016 champion, was ruthless in the third set to knock out 2017 champion Stephens.
Kerber beat Stephens for only the second time in seven career matchups. The 33-year-old Kerber won for the second straight day and laughed when she said she could use the day off on Saturday.
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September 04, 2021 at 06:26AM
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With the crowd on his side, teenager Carlos Alcaraz upsets third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in a third-round match at the US Open - The Boston Globe
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