 "US Open Day 3 Recap: Serena fights to keep going; curtains for Sakkari, Fernadez; Kyrgios whiffs weed")
New York: And she keeps going. Serena Williams dramatically extended her iconic career with a never-say-die, three-set victory over World No 2 Anett Kontaveit at the US Open. The 40-year-old, 23-time Grand Slam title winner triumphed 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-2 in front of a raucous, partisan Arthur Ashe Stadium Court crowd to reach the third round of a tournament she has won six times. A crowd that also included Tiger Woods . “There’s no rush. There’s still a little left in me so we’ll see. I’m a pretty good player. I love a challenge. I’m just Serena, you know. Honestly after I lost the second set I thought ‘oh my goodness, I’ve got to give my best effort because this could be it.
“I don’t have anything to prove, I don’t have anything to win and I have nothing to lose. I have had an ‘X’ on my back since 1999,” she said.
Chasing that ‘X’ on Serena’s back will be Ajla Tomljanovic who came from a set down to make the third round. The surprises: Maria Sakkari, Leylah Fernandez, Felix Auger-Aliassime
Maria Sakkari’s dreadful year at the majors continued in New York. China’s Wang Xiyu triumphed 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 over the third seed. Having made the semi-finals at two Grand Slams last year, her best this year was the fourth round at the Australian Open. She lost in the second round at both French and US Opens while exiting in the third round of Wimbledon. Wang, 2018 US Open junior champion, slammed 35 winners while saving 12 of 17 break points to secure her win. Minutes after Serena’s win, last year’s US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez crashed out. She lost 3-6, 6-7 to Liudmila Samsonova in what has been a challenging year with a stress fracture in her right foot. “It’s hard to get to the highest level, but it’s so easy to get back down and that’s what happening right now,” Fernandez said. And that’s something that is happening not just to her but to other recent champions. Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka were eliminated on Tuesday. The exception, thus far, is 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu.
The Canadian moved into the third round by defeating 15th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2, 6-4 in a match that began after 11:30 PM on Wednesday night and finished after 1 AM. The unseeded 22-year-old, now 48th in the world, faces a stiff challenge against Caroline Garcia next.
Another Canadian, Felix Auger-Aliassime, was sent packing. Last year’s US Open semi-finalist was eliminated 4-6, 4-6, 4-6 by rapidly rising Jack Draper. Draper rolled past Auger-Aliassime to continue his climb up the rankings. The left-hander was outside the top 250 last year but is now on the verge of moving into the top 50. Former champions Murray, Medvedev advance
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev moved into the third round. The top seed beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 for his 14th straight win in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament. Medvedev is now 22-4 at the US Open, where he was a finalist in 2019 before beating Novak Djokovic last year for his first major title. Another men’s champion in Andy Murray needed four sets beat American wildcard Emilio Nava. This is the first third round foray for him at a major in six years. The 35-year-old Scot prevailed 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 and later said, “Physically this is the best I’ve felt in the last few years.” Asthmatic Nick Kyrgios smells weed, alerts chair umpire Kyrgios delivered a typically volatile display in a four-set win over Benjamin Bonzi . Kyrgios appeared to aim a mouthful of spit in the general direction of his box and then dropped several F-bombs at his team during a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win. He also complained to the umpire that he could smell marijuana smoke in the crowd. “People don’t know, I’m a heavy asthmatic,” Kyrgios said. “When I’m running side to side, I’m struggling to breathe. Probably not something I want to be breathing in in between points.” China’s Wu Yibing extends history making mark
Wu Yibing created a piece of tennis history after becoming the first player from China to reach the third round of the US Open. The 22-year-old defeated fellow qualifier Nuno Borges in a five-set thriller to set up a David vs Goliath showdown with Medvedev. Wu winner of the US Open junior crown in 2017 – recovered from two sets to one down to close out a 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in 3hr 47min. Wu is the first player from China to reach the third round of any Grand Slam tournament since Kho Sin-Khie reached the same stage at Wimbledon in 1946. The Chinese youngster was also amused to be informed that his exploits in the Big Apple had made him a top trending topic on social media in his homeland. Asked what that meant to him he joked: “I’m a good-looking guy, I guess.” Day 4 matches to watch Iga Swiatek vs Sloane Stephens Federico Coria vs Carlos Alcaraz Lucie Hradecka/Linda Noskova vs Serena/Venus Williams Fabio Fognini vs Rafael Nadal Marta Kostyuk vs Victoria Azarenka Grigor Dimitrov vs Brandon Nakashima Read all the Latest News ****, Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook ****, Twitter and Instagram ****.