US Open happenings

Shapovalov falls:  Denis Shapovalov, the teenage Canadian phenom, went down to Pablo Carreno Busta (CB) in the 4^th round.   CB played a smart match, keeping the ball in play and hitting aggressively only when completely comfortable.  A few more errors from his opponent was all it took, and CB beat Shapovalov in three tiebreak sets.  Denis will be back though.

Federer, Nadal cruise:  Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal have been winning easily, and are one match away from a semifinal encounter.  Federer has the tougher road, as he confronts del Potro next.  Nadal gets Andrey Rublev, another teenage talent from Russia.  Don’t count on a teenager beating Nadal in a slam quarterfinal.

Some great matches:  Every once in a while, Petra Kvitova produces unbelievable tennis and is simply unbeatable.  An example was her first Wimbledon finals win over Sharapova in 2011.  This level of tennis is rare for Kvitova, but she found it against Garbine Muguruza in the 4^th round.  Garbine must have been asking herself: “Why me??” as Kvitova beat her soundly despite a great effort on Muguruza’s part.  That level of tennis did not characterize Kvitova’s next match, where she went down to Venus Williams in a third set tiebreak.  This was a great match, though, with Venus showing some real power and psychological fortitude to win it.  Kvitova played well, but not quite unbeatably well in that one.

            Another fabulous match took place between del Potro and Dominic Thiem in the 4^th round.  What a match!  Thiem won the first two sets easily, but del Potro, who showed similar resolve in his last run at the Olympics, gradually gained strength.  On match point down Thiem double faulted by shanking a second serve.  An amazing way to end such a great match.

American women looking strong.  American women gained positions in all four quarterfinal matches.  Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams won those and are scheduled to meet in the semis.   The other two, Coco Vandeweigh and Madison Keys, must play Karolina Pliskova and Kaia Kanepi, respectively.  I, for one, don’t care where players hail from, but for those who like to see Americans succeed, this is a great tournament.