Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️🗽
Today’s tennis mood: Blown away, a bit exhausted, and ready for more.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 On tap: It’s quarterfinals day (part two) and, let’s face it, it will be tough to live up to yesterday’s matches. 🤯 Still, we’ve Comeback Queen Qinwen Zheng going up against Elena Rybakina. After a day of American tennis on display yesterday, Coco Gauff is the only one on the schedule today. And, on the men’s side, we’ve got three surprise quarterfinalists in Karen Khachanov, Alexander Blockx, and Botic van de Zandschulp. Programming note: Three of the four singles matches will take place during the day session; the night session will have one and start at 7:30, followed by a doubles match.
🎾 ICYMI: Tuesday had all the feel of Super Saturday, that incredible day of tennis at the U.S. Open in 1984 when Ivan Lendl defeated Pat Cash in five sets in one semifinal, Martina Navratilova took down Chris Evert in the final, and John McEnroe took out Jimmy Connors in five sets in the other semifinal. If you missed yesterday’s action trying to get post-Labor Day life on track, here’s what happened in the matches that all went the distance…
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka took down Wimbledon champ Linda Noskova 7-6, 3-6, 7-6.
Jessica Pegula kept her record perfect by defeating Emma Navarro 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Frances Tiafoe fought back from two sets down against his friend Alex Michelsen 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6. But it’s this moment that we will remember for a long, long time.
And Ben Shelton did the unthinkable by finishing off top seed Carlos Alcaraz at 3:30 in the morning, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6.
🎾 A note from a reader: Yesterday, I received an email from reader “C,” with the subject line: Missing match. The message went on to say: “Hi Allen, you missed one of yesterday’s 8 matches in today’s newsletter. I know you hate Alexander Zverev but don’t you think it’s a little bit stupid to ruin your otherwise fine newsletter with this petty stuff. Best, C.”
Short answer: Putting the insults of “stupid” and “petty” aside, the answer is emphatically: no.
Fuller answer: But you’ve baked in a lot of assumptions into your email, “C.” I did not “miss” the Zverev match. I omitted it. Intentionally. That was an editorial decision based on the values of Court Theory and its readers that have been expressed to me in polls, emails, and IRL conversations. Some coverage of Zverev is unavoidable, but most of it is and will be. I hope that clears up any misunderstandings you seem to have had.
🎾 One to watch: Mirra Andreeva vs. Coco Gauff (Quarterfinals - U.S. Open): Watch this one for the competitive drama between the 4th and 5th seeds, who have had relatively straightforward matches coming into this round. Expect Gauff to keep playing the game she has all tournament long, and expect Andreeva to use all the tools she has to disrupt that dominance. Given current form, Gauff should win this match — but Andreeva will likely expose some raw edges.
The record: Coco Gauff leads the head-to-head record over Mirra Andreeva 5-0.
On the line: Everything else is pushed aside. This round, for both players, is all about having a shot at the title.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 84% of you called for Carlos Alcaraz to defeat Ben Shelton. Shelton won 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6.)
And that’s game.
