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Phew. That\u2019s my watch over for today. And we\u2019ve only got through four singles matches. Taylor Fritz and Tomas Machac are up next on Louis Armstrong, in what\u2019s nearly a night match now, with Aryna Sabalenka still to come after that. And in the night session on Arthur Ashe it\u2019s Novak Djokovic v Jan-Lennard Struff, before Elena Rybakina v Marketa Vondrousova. We\u2019ll have reports on the site later. Bye!<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.11 EDT<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A penny for Townsend\u2019s thoughts right now. I don\u2019t think she\u2019ll get much sleep tonight, that\u2019s for sure. It may be scant consolation, but Krejcikova did play some superb tennis on those eight match points. Sometimes you have to say too good. Though Townsend could have landed a few more first serves. I think she was waiting for Krejcikova to falter rather than win the points herself. The question now is can Townsend, the world No 1 in doubles, put herself in a position to go deep in the singles at slams more often.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.05 EDT<\/p>\n Krejcikova is celebrating with her team as if she\u2019s won the tournament. \u201cWhat a match,\u201d the former Wimbledon and French Open champion says. \u201cJust four months ago I was off the court, I couldn\u2019t play, I couldn\u2019t practice, I had a huge pain in my back. This is huge, I still can\u2019t believe it. Even though the crowd wasn\u2019t for me I loved the atmosphere. I wish they had a tournament in the Czech Republic for me! Maybe in a different life. But I\u2019m still enjoying. I was sidelined for six months, I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d be able to play again, it\u2019s a huge privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Krejcikova defeats Townsend 1-6, 7-6 (13), 6-3!<\/p>\n But this isn\u2019t over yet. We should have learnt that from the second-set tie-break. Townsend produces two of her best points of the decider to get to 15-30 \u2026 but she nets when Krejcikova\u2019s slice skids viciously low. 30-all. Will it be match point or break point? \u201cLet\u2019s go Barbora, let\u2019s go,\u201d cries a lone voice in the crowd. He\u2019s brave. And so is Krejcikova, as she brings up match point. Now it\u2019s Townsend\u2019s turn to save a match point though! But here\u2019s a second \u2026 and Townsend lobs long! Krejcikova completes the most dramatic of turnarounds in the match of the women\u2019s tournament, having saved eight match points. For Townsend, so close to a first grand slam singles quarter-final at her home slam, it\u2019s utterly heartbreaking.<\/p>\n Barbora Krejcikova celebrates her improbable win \u2026 Photograph: Pamela Smith\/AP\u2026 as Taylor Townsend departs after her agonising defeat. Photograph: Timothy A Clary\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.20 EDT<\/p>\n Krejcikova, undeterred, gets straight back to the job in hand and clinically advances to 15-40 on the American\u2019s serve. Krejcikova errs on the first break point \u2026 and nets on the second too! Townsend has her opponent on the run at deuce and is able to move to advantage. But even the crowd are applauding the Czech when she unleashes a backhand return winner. They\u2019re less generous when Krejcikova brings up a third break point \u2013 and then breaks. A third break of serve in a row leaves Krejcikova at 5-3 and about to serve for the match \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.48 EDT<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Krejcikova, meanwhile, is giving nothing away in her body language, even when she misses a volley and gives Townsend a break-back point! That didn\u2019t seem to be in the script. Townsend, now lighter on her feet and skipping around the court, moves forward, but is suddenly jammed on the volley, and miscues wide! Cue an anguished expression. But a backhand pass gets Townsend a second break-back point! And she seizes it with a rasping return! She\u2019s fist pumping and screaming and roaring and screaming some more. The energy is definitely back. It\u2019s 4-3 Krejcikova but they\u2019re back on serve.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.41 EDT<\/p>\n Townsend, looking fatigued and slow on her feet, drops 30-40 down after three unforced errors. She appears on the verge of tears. This match has taken so much out of her. She doesn\u2019t want it to end in subdued surrender. Krejcikova rams a backhand winner into the open court and there\u2019s the first break of the third set. And judging from Townsend\u2019s body language right now, it could be the decisive one.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The level of intensity has totally dropped off. Maybe they\u2019re just gearing themselves up for another tie-break (I\u2019d take that, sure you would too), though the lefty Townsend does hit an eye-catching backhand winner for 30-all. That\u2019s as good as it gets for her, though, as Krejcikova holds from there for 3-2.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.35 EDT<\/p>\n Townsend could do with trying to get the crowd back into this, she\u2019s (understandably) been rather subdued since the tie-break. Krejcikova holds to 30 and is pushing on Townsend\u2019s serve at 30-all. Townsend edges to 40-30, and then has the clarity of mind at the net to leave Krejcikova\u2019s shot, which flies well beyond the baseline. It\u2019s still on serve at 2-2.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Krejcikova cooly holds at the start of the third set. This is huge game coming up for Townsend \u2026 can she move on from the whirlwind of that breaker? The answer seems to to be no as she falls 0-30 behind, but then she shows real resolve to drag herself to 30-all and 40-30. \u201cRip and flick,\u201d her coach is urging. Not sure what he means there. But it seems to work, as she holds from deuce. It\u2019s 1-1 in the decider.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.06 EDT<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Of course so much of the narrative in this match is about Townsend, and what she\u2019s trying to achieve and what she\u2019s been through this tournament after she unwittingly became involved in that row with Ostapenko, but credit to Krejcikova, she showed there why she\u2019s a big-game player and why she\u2019s won two grand slam singles titles. What happens in the third set? It\u2019s a perilous job to predict it after the insanity of that second set, but I think Krejcikova has the edge given her experience and the fact Townsend looks absolutely shellshocked.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.07 EDT<\/p>\n Set point No 4 for Krejcikova. Townsend misses her first serve \u2026 lands a weak second, which allows the Czech to take authority in the point, coming forward, before finally settling matters with a smash! We\u2019ve got ourselves another set of this! Yes please. 15-13 (!!!!!!!!!) was the final score.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.15 EDT<\/p>\n \u2026 Townsend\u2019s volley sets up an eighth match point. Fine reactions from the world No 1 in doubles. But remember, she\u2019s never made a slam quarter-final in singles before. Could this finally be the moment? No, because her return lands long. It\u2019s now 13-13. And time is turning into a giant flat circle \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 how has Krejcikova saved her best shots for the match points?! This is crazy. And utterly compulsive viewing. Here\u2019s a seventh match point for Townsend. She must barely be able to hear herself think such is the noise on Louis Armstrong. And Krejcikova swats away a forehand return winner! They change ends \u2013 again. And it\u2019s 12-12 \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 now 10-9 to Krejcikova, so a third set point. Townsend aborts her ball toss on the serve, before hitting her first serve long. The second serve is wobbly, it\u2019s so short, Krejcikova steps in to punish it \u2026 and nets! Another unforced error from Krejcikova and it\u2019s 11-10 to Townsend, her sixth match point in this set and her fifth of the breaker. The crowd are imploring Townsend to get this done. But Krejcikova hits a superb sliced backhand volley and sticks it back behind the stumbling American! 11-11 \u2026<\/p>\n Barbora Krejcikova, of the Czech Republic, returns a shot against Taylor Townsend, of the United States. Photograph: Pamela Smith\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.08 EDT<\/p>\n At 8-8, a long baseline exchange plays out, and Krejcikova is apologising to Townsend when her backhand flicks the net and lands for a winner. The Czech has her second set point. But she rams into the tramlines! She really should have landed that. Again they change ends. It\u2019s 9-9 \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 but Townsend, once again finds a way to regroup, and jams Krejcikova with a body serve. MP No 5 at 7-6. The crowd are cheering. They think Krejcikova\u2019s backhand has flown wide. But it\u2019s in by just 14mm!!! So we go again. It\u2019s 7-7. Krejcikova shows ridiculous reflexes at the net and even the American crowd are applauding. Townsend isn\u2019t. She\u2019s rolling her eyes. Now Krejcikova has her first set point at 8-7 \u2026. but she nets! And. We. Go. On.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Some more net-bashing from Krejcikova and Townsend leads 4-3 \u2013 the American now has the mini-break \u2013 and she consolidates it for 5-3! She\u2019s now two points away. Make that one! It\u2019s 6-3! So here comes the biggest point of her singles career. Or at least the biggest point since that missed match point at 5-4 in this set. She can\u2019t take it. Nor the second mp. Nor the third, as her shot skids just wide of the sideline. Somehow, Krejcikova has got it back to 6-6 \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Louis Armstrong is rocking when Townsend wins the opening point. Krejcikova comes back with the next two points, on her serve. The Czech then takes advantage of Townsend\u2019s tentativeness in coming forward, threading a pass beyond the despairing American. So Krejcikova has the first mini-break for 3-2 \u2026 but a messy shot into the net and it\u2019s 3-3 at the changeover \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A here\u2019s another jarring shift in momentum, as Townsend gets to 15-30 \u2026 and then 30-40 with a forehand down the line that Krejcikova can\u2019t get back into play! Win this break point and Townsend has got herself a tie-break \u2026 which she does when Krejcikova scoops her backhand long! That match point won\u2019t hurt quite so much now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Townsend, not surprisingly given that missed match point, is struggling to reset. She slips 0-30 down on serve. And then 15-40. She pulls out of her ball toss on the break point, before missing with the first serve. She makes the second, but her feet look heavy, and they barely move to retrieve Krejcikova\u2019s punchy return. Krejcikova, from match point down, will serve for the second set at 6-5. How quickly a match can turn.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.26 EDT<\/p>\n The perfect start for Townsend as she seizes the opening point on Krejcikova\u2019s serve. Or rather, the Czech gifts it to her with an errant forehand. And there\u2019s another! 0-30. Krejcikova comes back for 30-all; this time her forehand hits the spot. But Townsend\u2019s backhand down the line draws the error from Krejcikova! The American has a match point \u2026 but a brave one-two punch from Krejcikova saves it. Deuce. Game Krejcikova. The Czech is screaming as if she\u2019s won the match. It\u2019s 6-1, 5-5.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Back to Louis Armstrong, where Townsend, at 6-1, 4-4, 40-0, is on the cusp of something very special. And an unreturned serve settles the game! Townsend is a game away from the greatest achievement of her singles career.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure what more Rinderknech could have done there. He played as well as he could have, but he simply doesn\u2019t have the superpowers and other-wordly shot-making skills of Alcaraz. Though to be fair, who does? Not even Sinner. Sinner\u2019s style is more metronomic consistency.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A beaming Alcaraz tells the crowd how much he loves entertaining them. \u201cI think my style of tennis suits the energy here in New York. That\u2019s why I play my best tennis here,\u201d he says. He reckons he still needs to work on his golf swing though. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look that good on the golf course, to be honest,\u201d he jokes when asked about his celebration.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.11 EDT<\/p>\n Alcaraz beats Rinderknech 7-6, 6-3, 6-4<\/p>\n Alcaraz, having generously allowed Rinderknech to hold four times in the third set, decides it\u2019s time to finish things off, magicking an outrageous forehand winner from Rinderknech\u2019s smash for 0-30 at 4-4! And the break inevitably follows. Alcaraz accelerates to 40-15 on his own serve, two match points, and he needs just the one. Cue his now customary golf swing celebration. He may not be the defending champion, but he\u2019s the king of New York on this form. For me, he\u2019s edged ahead of Sinner to become the favourite. Four matches in, he still hasn\u2019t dropped a set and probably won\u2019t have too many sleepless nights about facing Lehecka next in the last eight.<\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz of Spain acknowledges the crowd after defeating Arthur Rinderknech of France. Photograph: Clive Brunskill\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.13 EDT<\/p>\n Townsend whips the crowd into a New York frenzy as she breaks with a perfectly placed lob! At 6-1, 3-1, that first slam singles quarter-final is getting much closer \u2026 can she see this over the line? She manages a wry smile after bashing into the net when the point was there for the taking \u2026 but she\u2019s glaring when Krejcikova secures a break point at 30-40. Townsend moves forward \u2026 and this time courageously nails a backhand drive volley winner, similar to the one she missed a few points ago. Deuce. But she then coughs up a double fault to hand the break back. They\u2019re back on serve at 6-1, 3-2.<\/p>\n