The crazy game of the day on Friday at the US Open was the one that faced Stefanos Tsitsipas (4th seeded) and Borna Coric (27th). The Greek had not achieved good results historically in New York (a victory in two previous participations), and again failed in New York, losing by 6-7 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 and 7-6 (4). The meeting had everything. The first round was decided in a very close tie break that Tsitsipas took for small details. Coric, who despite asking for the entrance of the physio after the first set, he was at a very high level throughout the match and tied the contest by taking the second set.
At the beginning of the third heat, one of the moments of the day arrived. Tsitsipas, very nervous after seeing how the Croatian tied, shouted to his father “you don't know!” when he gave him instructions from the stands. Apostolos, the Greek's progenitor, left his seat for the next two sets. Interestingly, without his father in the stands, Tsitsipas began playing his best tennis of the match. She won the third set, and got the fourth back on track quickly. But the collapse of the Greek arrived. At 5-1, Tsitsipas squandered six match points and lost seven straight games to see how a Coric who never gave up took the match to the final set. As if that weren't enough, the final point of the fourth set was lost by the Greek when he missed a ball that he thought was going out, but that finally entered.
#UsOpen | “YOU DON'T KNOW !!” Apostolos Tsitsipas must have corrected something to his son and Stefanos did not take it well. Important anger after this great serve from Coric pic.twitter.com/fNhOyN3vTm
– Fernando Murciego (@fermurciego) September 5, 2020
In the decisive sleeve the drama reappeared. The two players, very upset, chained successes and errors. Tsitsipas' break, which came with a record of one win and two losses in five-set matches, was immediately answered by Coric's. The Greek continued to lose opportunities, and both he and the Croatian were very fresh legs despite more than four hours of play (the meeting lasted until 4 hours and 36 minutes, ending after 01:00 in the morning in New York). And, how could it be otherwise, the tie break in the fifth set he was in charge of deciding the winner of the fateful duel. Two double faults by Tsitsipas put the Greek against the ropes, and Coric took advantage of the fourth-seeded fragility to eliminate him. The 23-year-old Croat enters a round of 16 of the Grand Slam for the third time in his career, in which he will face Australian Jordan Thompson.
Alexander Zverev, meanwhile, will be Alejandro Davidovich's rival in the round of 16 at the US Open. The German, the fifth seed of the tournament, was forced to traced a set behind in his third round match against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino (32nd) to end up winning 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 and 6-2 in almost three hours of the game (practically the same time that Davidovich used).
Zverev's three matches at the US Open, and three sets on loan, one in each encounter. The German has gone from less to more in all his duels. The first and second sets against Mannarino they were the most even, and both decided on small details. In the last two, a much more complete and determined Zverev appeared to sentence his pass to the fourth round of the tournament. The face and the cross of the German were in his serve: 14 aces, but 11 double faults. In addition, he doubled the number of winners of the French (44 by 22 Mannarino). Zverev returns for the second consecutive year to the round of 16 of the US Open, round that he has never overcome in the New York tournament.
Pulled heroic Denis Shapovalov (12th), who for the second time in a row needed almost three and a half hours of play to advance in the tournament. On this occasion, his rival was the American Taylor Fritz (19th), who had the victory in his hand. Fritz took the lead twice on the scoreboard, but the Canadian never gave up. The tie break of the fourth set was decisive. As Fritz approached the win, Shapovalov pulled out his best tennis to take the tiebreaker and deal a blow to the American, who raised the white flag in the last heat. Shapovalov, 21, agrees by second time in his career to the eighth of a Grand Slam (the first time was also at the US Open) and, as if the five sets played were not few, hardly an hour and a half later he was fighting his duel in the doubles box.
The Canadian's rival in the second round will be David Goffin (7th), who solidly solved a difficult cross against Serbian Filip Krajinovic (26th) by 6-1, 7-6 (5) and 6-4. Krajinovic arrived at the meeting in good shape, without giving up a single set in their first two games and reaching the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Masters 1,000. However, the Belgian Goffin threw ex officio to access the fourth round, phase in which he has been defeated the previous three years. The surprise of the day was seen in the second round match resumed on Friday after being suspended on Thursday due to rain. Daniel Evans (23rd) saw Frenchman Corentin Moutet, world number 77, come back from a set behind and took the tie thanks to the success in the tie breaks, with a final result of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1). Moutet will face Felix Auger-Aliassime this Saturday, looking for his first round of 16 in a Grand Slam at 21 years old.
Results of the day.