Category: Tennis

• World No 8 and Jordan Thompson suffer singles losses in Sydney

• Belgium take 2-0 lead over Australia in second-round qualifying tie

Tennis officials have been branded “barbaric” as Australia slumped to a shock 2-0 deficit in a dramatic start to their second-round Davis Cup qualifying tie against Belgium in Sydney.

Lowly ranked Raphael Collignon overcame severe cramping to upset world No 8 Alex de Minaur 7-5 3-6 6-3 in a three-hour, 12-minute epic before Zizou Bergs beat Jordan Thompson 7-6 (4) 6-4 in Saturday’s second singles rubber.

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A fantastic performance from Carlos Alcaraz set him up to win his second US Open and sixth grand slam title

More from Bryan.

An hour before Sunday’s US Open men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the boardwalk from the Mets-Willets Point subway to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was quiet, punctuated only by bursts of fans spilling out of the No 7 train every few minutes.

Among them stood Emma Kaplan, a 33-year-old executive assistant from Brooklyn, distributing flyers that read “The Fall of the Trump Fascist Regime.” She was joined by three members of RefuseFascism.org, one hoisting a poster that declared “GAME, SET, MATCH! NOV 5, FLOOD DC. TRUMP MUST GO!”; another’s sign demanded the shutdown of ICE and “the whole Trump fascist regime.”

As waves of spectators streamed past, a heavy security presence shadowed the scene – NYPD, Parks Department officers, Homeland Security agents and the Secret Service. Some fans nodded quietly in approval. Others made their opposition clear.

“Oh my bad, I voted for him,” one man muttered.

“Maga! Make America great again!” shouted another, a 22-year-old from Long Island who said he would happily back Trump again.

Kaplan brushed off the jeers.

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• Trump will appear on big screen during national anthem

• Broadcasters asked ‘not to show any disruptions’

US Open broadcasters have been asked not to show any negative crowd reactions to Donald Trump at Sunday’s men’s final.

The president is expected to attend the match between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in New York, with security at Flushing Meadows being heightened in preparation.

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Felix Auger-Aliassime saw off Alex de Minaur and Amanda Anisimova avenged her Wimbledon thrashing by Iga Swiatek, to reach the semi-finals

Now an easy hold for Demon, and though it’s possible one of these takes three tight sets, the sense is that we’re settling in for a good few hours. Let’s hope so: we’ve had too many one-sided matches these last 10 days and we’re due a classic. That said, I really enjoyed the beating Osaka put on Gauff, with Muchova v Kostyuk probably my most enjoyed match so far. Meantime, Felix nails an ace for 40-30, then spanks a forehand into the corner. But De Minaur hoists a moon-ball of a lob and the overhead goes into the net; at 1-1 deuce, here comes pressure … quickly alleviated with a monstrous serve and follow-up overhead. That’s a really good sign, given what happened in the previous point, and when the Demon nets, he leads 2-1 in the first, on serve.

Auger-Aliassime holds to 15, looking pretty good while doing it. He’s into the match and looks good and businesslike. And for extra points, he’s got Daffy Duck on his shirt.

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• Rapper risks six figures on world No 1 at Flushing

• Drake Curse looms after past tennis losses mount

• Sinner in quarters, faces Italian rival Musetti

Drake is betting big on Jannik Sinner, wagering $300,000 on the world No 1 to win the US Open.

The rapper known for placing big bets on sporting events – and often losing them – posted on social media the screenshot of a betting slip from Tuesday afternoon. The six-figure gamble pays $507,000 if Sinner captures his fifth major championship and second at the US Open.

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• World No 1 takes just 81 minutes to complete win

• Italian has 25 straight wins at hard-court grand slams

Jannik Sinner claimed his quickest grand slam victory with a brutal destruction of Alexander Bublik in the fourth round of the US Open.

The world No 1 had looked a little vulnerable in the previous round, when he dropped his first set of the tournament to Denis Shapovalov, but he needed just an hour and 21 minutes to race to a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win against Bublik.

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• Australian No 1 too good for Swiss qualifier Leandro Riedi

• No 25 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime awaits in quarter-final

It took until the second week of the US Open for the No 8 seed to be given a slot on one of the US Open’s three show courts, but having finally been granted a premium placing Alex de Minaur has wasted no time putting on a show.

In truth the Australian No 1 did not play at his best, but he did not need to as his opponent, Swiss qualifier Leandro Riedi, made a slew of errors.

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• Polish businessman Piotr Szczerek says: ‘I made a grave mistake’

• Majchrzak had given cap to boy in crowd after five-set victory

Moments after the tennis player Kamil Majchrzak celebrated the biggest win of his career at the US Open last week, he handed his cap to a beaming young boy. What happened next sparked tears, outrage, a detective hunt across social media and, finally, a grovelling apology.

It came from Piotr Szczerek, a millionaire businessman from Poland, who had snatched the cap out of the boy’s hand and stuffed it into his bag. Videos of the incident showed the youngster looking deeply upset and asking: “What are you doing?” while Majchrzak – who was oblivious to the situation after his five-set victory against the ninth seed, Karen Khachanov – walked away.

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• Serb oldest man to reach all major quarters in one season

• Djokovic will face Taylor Fritz in next round

Novak Djokovic was cruising with a big early lead in his US Open fourth-round match on Sunday night when his neck started bothering him.

Djokovic was ahead of qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff 4-0 in the first set, when he hit a nicely angled volley winner to go up 30-love. The 24-time grand slam champion immediately grabbed at the back of his neck and started turning his head. Djokovic repeatedly stretched his neck and flexed his right shoulder between points, as he dropped two games in a row. But he soon regained the upper hand against Struff, who was trying to get to a major quarter-final for the first time.

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• American misses first grand slam singles quarter-final

• Townsend had become huge crowd favorite in Queens

A tearful Taylor Townsend suffered a heartbreaking fourth-round loss at the US Open after Barbora Krejcikova astonishingly saved eight match points.

Townsend’s dramatic week has been one of the stories of the tournament so far, with the American becoming headline news after her second-round opponent Jelena Ostapenko confronted her courtside and accused her of having “no education” and “no class”.

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• Auger-Aliassime beats Zverev in four-set thriller

• Zverev suffers earliest New York exit since 2018

Felix Auger-Aliassime stormed into the last 16 of the US Open on Saturday night with a rousing comeback win over world No 3 Alexander Zverev, knocking out one of the title favorites 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-4 on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The Canadian 25th seed had not reached the second week in New York since his semi-final run in 2021 but summoned some of the best tennis of his career to secure a first grand slam victory over a top-five opponent. The match stretched to three hours and 48 minutes and finished shortly before midnight, delaying the night session that followed.

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• Australian leads 6-7 (9) 6-3 6-4 2-0 when Daniel Altmaier retires

• Women’s 15th seed knocked out in 6-0 4-6 6-3 loss to Naomi Osaka

Alex de Minaur has surged into the US Open second week for a fifth time with a business-like win over wounded German Daniel Altmaier.

Australia’s last player standing once more, De Minaur recovered from a set down to progress after Altmaier retired injured when the Demon was leading 6-7 (9-7) 6-3 6-4 2-0 on Saturday (Sunday AEST).

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• Serbian beats Briton in four sets in his best performance of tournament

• But he says his struggles with his body and movement are ‘frustrating’

At a time when Novak Djokovic could really benefit from some straightforward wins to ease through the early rounds of his final grand slam tournament of the year, nothing has come easily in New York. But under the bright lights on Friday night, Djokovic held off an impressive Cameron Norrie to reach the fourth round of the US Open with a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3 win in his best performance of the tournament so far.

The victory makes Djokovic, 38, the oldest man to reach the last 16 of the US Open in 34 years – since Jimmy Connors in 1991. He also ties Roger Federer for the most grand slam fourth round appearances in history with 69 appearances. “These kind of matches and performances always give me hope that I can go far, challenge the best players in the world,” Djokovic said.

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