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What hope does Rinderknech have today? Erm, not much, I would say, given that Alcaraz is the form player of the men\u2019s draw so far, yet to drop a set, and only a combined 23 games so far in three matches. Rinderknech, meanwhile, the 30-year-old Frenchman playing in the fourth round of a slam for the first time, already has 13 sets on the clock and has lost to Spaniard in their three previous meetings. The one glimmer for him could be the slight question mark over the knee injury Alcaraz suffered in the previous round.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n An email. \u201cThe children will not now be making a slide down the stairs,\u201d reports my neighbour Dan Beck, who\u2019s currently downstairs in my house keeping an eye on my kids. \u201cInstead they are taking all of the balls in the house to the trampoline. I\u2019m sure that will be quieter for you.\u201d How thoughtful of them. And it\u2019ll make my escape for a break shortly a bit easier too. Daniel will be here in 10 minutes or so to take you through the start of Alcaraz v Rinderknech.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Lehecka, having broken Mannarino, is serving for a two sets to love lead at 7-6, 5-4. Lehecka can blow pretty hot and cold, but the Czech\u2019s managed to maintain a sense equilibrium today and advances to 40-15. Before double faulting! The commentator\u2019s curse. But an errant forehand from Mannarino gives Lehecka the set.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Alcaraz is backstage, headphones on. But he doesn\u2019t have his game face on yet; instead he\u2019s fiddling on his phone. He\u2019ll make his entrance on Ashe, along with Arthur Rinderknech, in just over 20 minutes\u2019 time.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n It was announced today that Daniil Medvedev has split with his coach Gilles Cervara after his first-round exit in New York. They\u2019d been together for about eight years \u2013 including for the Russian\u2019s 2021 US Open triumph and getting to No 1 in the world \u2013 so it\u2019s sad to see the partnership end, but something probably had to change after Medvedev\u2019s sudden slump this year. He also went out of Wimbledon and the French Open in the opening round, and only made the second round at the Australian Open, his worst year at majors since his debut slam season in 2017.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Mannarino and Lehecka have traded a break in the second set, with Mannarino 4-3 up, having made Lehecka look like the 37-year-old rather than the 23-year-old a few games ago:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Alcaraz\u2019s match is a \u201cnot before 1.30pm\u201d, so he won\u2019t be out for another 40 minutes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Share<\/a><\/p>\n A really nice interview between Pegula and Pam Shriver on court. \u201cI played [Li] at Roland Garros this year and had a tough two sets,\u201d Pegula says. \u201cI feel she came out a bit slow and nervous here and I wanted to jump on that and not let her settle.\u201d<\/p>\n Pegula, the daughter of the Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula, is then asked about the new NFL season. \u201cI think it\u2019s so cool I\u2019ve been able to bring football fans into the tennis world,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone roots for me. Every city I go to [in the world], I always run into Bills fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, she thanks Lindsay Davenport, the US Billie Jean King Cup captain, for watching today. \u201cLindsay is awesome. It\u2019s been so fun working with her and playing for her. I know she\u2019s watching here as much as she can, it\u2019s been awesome. I need to post a picture of her signing a giant tennis ball for me years ago, but she said it made her feel really old.\u201d She\u2019s smiling, Lindsay is smiling, as well they should after such a performance.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.59 EDT<\/p>\n Pegula beats Li 6-1, 6-2<\/p>\n Perfect touch from Pegula at the net and it\u2019s 0-30. Li lamps it long and it\u2019s 0-40. And Pegula, somewhat predictably given the way this has gone, needs only one match point. Last year\u2019s runner-up is the first player into the last eight and she\u2019s barely been troubled in her first four matches. Up next it could be another all-American affair with Taylor Townsend, or Barbora Krejcikova. It\u2019s a shame this ended so quickly, but hey, at least the good news is it means we\u2019ve got Carlitos next.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.42 EDT<\/p>\n These two did also meet at the French Open this year, by the way, in the second round, where Pegula came through in two much tighter sets. This match is all but over, though, as Pegula holds to 30 for 6-1, 5-2. She\u2019s a game away from a fourth consecutive US Open quarter-final.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n With Pegula pushing and probing once again on Li\u2019s serve at 15-30, time is starting to run out for the less well known of the two Americans. 15-30 turns into 30-40. We\u2019ve seen this before. But then Li tears up the script, sending down a rare stinging second serve to save the break point, before holding from deuce. Pegula leads 6-1, 4-2.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pegula is still bossing it on Ashe, leading 6-1, 3-1. And a glance through today\u2019s early results brings up the name \u201cHewitt\u201d. It\u2019s not the 2001 champion Lleyton, however, but his 16-year-old son Cruz, who\u2019s suffered a 6-3, 6-0 defeat in the first round of the boys\u2019 singles to the American fourth seed Benjamin Willwerth. Lleyton was in the stands watching.<\/p>\n Cruz Hewitt. Photograph: Clive Brunskill\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Mannarino, who benefitted from Ben Shelton\u2019s unfortunate retirement in the previous round, has taken Lehecka to a tie-break. Mannarino is in the early ascendancy, moving to 4-1, before Lehecka comes back for 4-4 with some gusty net play. Make that 5-4 Lehecka and then 6-4 when Mannarino misses an absolute gimme of a backhand! Lehecka takes his sixth point on the spin and that\u2019s the set.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.29 EDT<\/p>\n Li does get her side of the scoreboard going, breaking to reduce her deficit to 3-1, but Pegula locks straight back in to restore her double break before holding to 15. Only 23 minutes in, it\u2019s very hard to see how Li can find a way back. Her second serve is batting practice for Pegula, who\u2019s won all 10 of those points, make that 11. And in no time at all it\u2019s 15-40, two set points. Pegula nets on the first and Li messes up her slice on the set. Pegula rattles through the first set 6-1.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Lehecka, meanwhile, has got a second set point in the opener against Mannarino, leading 5-4 and at advantage on Mannarino\u2019s serve. Mannarino shows unrelenting resolve to save it. This match represents a big opportunity for these two, despite being at very different stages of their careers. The 37-year-old Frenchman Mannarino, in his 15th US Open, and the 23-year-old Czech Lehecka are both attempting to reach the last eight for the first time. Mannarino fends off a third set point before holding after six deuces. It\u2019s 5-5.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.11 EDT<\/p>\n The support, it has to be said, for each player is fairly muted in the opening exchanges, because the stands are nowhere near full, unlike for Coco Gauff\u2019s early match yesterday. Pegula is locked in from the off, breaking to 15 in the opening game, before holding to love and then breaking from deuce when she treats a second serve with utter disdain by battering a backhand winner. Li is already glancing up at her box looking for answers.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pegula and Li have made their entrance. Amid all the aforementioned fury in New York, Pegula, as always, has been quietly going about her business, and last year\u2019s finalist enters this round-of-16 match yet to drop a set. I don\u2019t know that much about Li, I must admit, but the 25-year-old has been making decent progress this year and recently reached a WTA 250 final in Cleveland. But this is her first time on Ashe \u2013 how will she handle the occasion? At least she knows the crowd won\u2019t be against her \u2013 though which American will shade the support?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n And here\u2019s what happened yesterday, if you need to catch up:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Tumaini\u2019s written a good piece on all the player rage:<\/p>\n Daniel Altmaier had nothing more to say. Moments after one of the biggest wins of his career, the German unwittingly found himself on the receiving end of Stefanos Tsitsipas\u2019s ire during their handshake at the net. Before Tsitsipas could finish, though, Altmaier had walked away from the net and he refused to engage in the Greek\u2019s attempts to argue with him.<\/p>\n Altmaier shrugs at the first mention of the incident: \u201cEven if I would have lost, I would not enter discussions because it\u2019s just like heat of the moment. You need to cool down; let\u2019s see if he reacts to it or he sticks to his opinion while cooling down on an exercise bike in the player gym late at night.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Altmaier had the wherewithal to think clearly in the heat of battle, the same cannot be said for many other players in New York over the past week, a tournament that has been dominated by outbursts of anger and frustration from players. \u201cLots of drama,\u201d says Jessica Pegula, laughing. \u201cI don\u2019t know. My matches have been pretty no drama, so I\u2019m not really sure what\u2019s going on with everybody else. I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s just that New York City tends to bring out just a lot of drama, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n In hindsight, the Daniil Medvedev show on the first night of the tournament<\/a> was a sign of things to come as he lambasted the umpire before inciting the Louis Armstrong Stadium audience into a six-minute protest while Benjamin Bonzi held match point in their first round match. Although that incident sparked a dramatic comeback, Medvedev lost in five unforgettable sets.<\/p>\n Then, after crashing out of the tournament in a second round loss to Taylor Townsend, Jelena Ostapenko crashed out on the court. Townsend later said Ostapenko\u2019s heated comments towards her had included the Latvian accusing her of having \u201cno education\u201d and \u201cno class\u201d. Tsitsipas, who was apparently frustrated by Altmaier\u2019s successful underarm serve in their second round match, tried to send his opponent a message after the match: \u201cNext time, don\u2019t wonder why I hit you, OK? No, I\u2019m just saying if you serve underarm\u2026\u201d he said, his voice trailing off. By that time, Altmaier had removed himself from the conversation.<\/p>\n You can read the rest here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Hello! And welcome to today\u2019s coverage of the US Open, as we hit the midway point in the final slam of the year. Despite all the noise and chaos over the past week in New York \u2013 including Daniil Medvedev\u2019s mighty meltdown<\/a>, Jelena Ostapenko\u2019s ugly comments towards Taylor Townsend<\/a> (for which Ostapenko has finally apologised), Stefanos Tsitsipas\u2019s underarm serve fury<\/a> and seven injury retirements on the men\u2019s side \u2013 there\u2019s a slight sense of calm at the start of day eight, with only six fourth-round singles matches in the day session.<\/p>\n Starting on Arthur Ashe in a few minutes it\u2019s the all-American encounter between last year\u2019s runner-up Jessica Pegula and Ann Li, followed by the man of the tournament so far, Carlos Alcaraz, against France\u2019s Arthur Rinderknech. Play on Louis Armstrong is already under way, with Adrian Mannarino and Jiri Lehecka fighting for a place in their first US Open quarter-final. Then it\u2019s the two Taylors \u2013 Townsend takes on the 2024 Wimbledon winner Barbora Krejcikova and Fritz faces the Czech Tomas Machac \u2013 before Aryna Sabalenka (last but certainly not least as the defending champion) rounds things off against Spain\u2019s Cristina Bucsa. Let\u2019s hope, for Laura Robson\u2019s sake at least, there isn\u2019t another marriage proposal in Sabalenka\u2019s match<\/a>. The shame.<\/p>\n Allow Instagram content?<\/p>\n This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.<\/p>\n