(September 5, 2022) FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York – Rain interrupted play in the beginning of the day of play at the US Open on Labor Day and caused the roofs of both Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek survived a test against No. 108 in the world Jule Niemeier. The woman from Poland recovered from a set and a break down to beat Niemeier 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open for the first time.
Entering the 2022 US Open world No. 108 Jule Niemeier had never won a Tour-level hard-court match. The US Open is just her third major of her career all coming in 2022. The German woman won three to get to the fourth round.
Swiatek will play Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals.
In 73 minutes, No. 8 seed, American Jessica Pegula dismissed No. 21 seed and two-time major winner Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-2, winning the last six straight games. For Pegula, whose father owns NFL’s Buffalo Bills, it will be her first quarterfinal at the US Open. This was her first win over the Czech player. She has now reached the final eight of all four majors in her career, three in just this year alone. She is the highest ranked American woman.
“I feel like I’m always on edge playing Petra just because she can hit winners from anywhere, can get really hot and kind of make you feel like crap, I guess, on the court (smiling).
“Obviously haven’t beat her as well yet. So happy that I was able to not get frustrated today, to kind of stay in the match, even if I was down a break or just got broken. Thought I returned really well and ended up serving really smart when I had to.”
On playing Swiatek in the final 8:
“I think I maybe would take some more chances this time playing her, especially playing her on a maybe quicker hard court than last time playing her on clay.
“Yeah, I think I just have to play within myself and play smart and be present. I think I tried to do that today. Today, I already said, felt like a quarterfinal to me just because I haven’t beaten her before, she’s been having a good summer.
“So I was just, Don’t overthink it, don’t try to go for too much, don’t try to force anything. Just try to play within yourself. I thought I did a great job of that today so I’m really just going to try and replicate that if I happen to play Iga.”
“It’s going to be very tough.”
Ninth seed Andrey Rublev of Russia beat the seventh seed Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to gain a berth in the quarterfinals of the US Open for the third time on Monday. The Russian will take on Frances Tiafoe for a chance to reach the final four.
“I think today was everything going my side,” Rublev told media. “Like when I need to play, like to make a good serve I was making good serve. Every time when I need him to miss he was missing.
“So everything was like today on my side. On top of that, I was playing good. I don’t know. I was making good shots, good winners. Yeah, and in the end I was able to win in three sets so I’m really happy.”
“If it’s Rafa, especially during the Grand Slams, I have nothing to lose. I have to go for the match, and that’s it.
“In case if it’s Frances, it’s a tough player. We play couple of times. I lost to him last year here at the US Open. So for sure he will try to use the energy, the crowd to be more pumped, to play better tennis. I just, with him, I need to wait for my moment and use it.”
“I felt like I started the match very well, very relaxed and playing good, serving well,” said Norrie of Great Britain. “I felt maybe a little bit too relaxed and too low energy. I don’t know why.
“But, yeah, I went through a stage in the second set, I wasn’t hitting my backhand, I was missing a lot. Errors on my backhand side was not like myself. I usually can rely on that side. And, yeah, I don’t know my backhand error count but it was probably nowhere near the same as the other matches.
“I felt like Andrey gave me really nothing, and he was very solid. All credit to him. I felt maybe the one time I did have a chance was when I ended up throwing my racquet, and I ended up getting a bit more energy and moving a lot better for the next kind of 20 minutes. That was probably the best part of the match for me.
“It was good learning for me. But, like I said, all credit to Andrey, he gave me nothing today and he deserved it more than me.”
No. 22 seed and former finalist Karolina Pliskova beat former three-time finalist No. 26 seed Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2 in three hours in Louis Armstrong Stadium to reach the quarterfinals. Pliskova will face off against the Aryna Sabalenka- Danielle Collins winner in the quarterfinals.
“I think one of the best matches this year, for sure, from my side,” noted the Czech. “I think also from her. I thought the level of the tennis was quite good for all, like, three sets. Maybe the third set, maybe she start to drop it a little bit. Of course, it was understandable because physically also was quite tough. We had long rallies, long points, long games.
“But quite happy with my level.”
was super tough game. She play really well. Somehow I came back in the second set. I was like keep trying, keep pushing myself to keep trying and keep fighting. I think I did well.
I’m just super happy with the win, first of all, and with the level today. Yeah, was really tough match.
In the night match, Aryna Sabalenka out slugged American Danielle Collins 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in almost two-and-a-half hours.
“(It) was super tough game,” said the Belarusian. “She play really well. Somehow I came back in the second set. I was like keep trying, keep pushing myself to keep trying and keep fighting. I think I did well.
“I’m just super happy with the win, first of all, and with the level today. Yeah, was really tough match.”
More to follow…
