Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️
Today’s tennis mood: Eyes opened wide + a bit of a chuckle.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 On tap: After two days of action, the field in Washington is cut in half, and the matches are getting more intense. Alex Eala vs. Leylah Fernandez is somehow first on and not the primetime match. Kei Nishikori will face buzzsaw Rafa Jodar. Venus Williams will look to correct for her singles loss last night on the doubles court today with Diana Shnaider by her side. And Alex de Minaur vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (Take Two) has taken on an extra layer of significance. More on all of that below.
🎾 ICYMI: Here’s how yesterday’s top results shook out…
In Memphis, McCartney Kessler was up 4-2 on Renata Zarazua. Then all hell broke loose. And Sloane Stephens pulled off a nice three-setter against Yuliia Starodubtseva.
In Los Cabos, Michael Zheng needed just two sets for the upset over Martin Landaluce. And the same goes for Jenson Brooksby over Corentin Moutet.
In Washington, Rafa Jodar picked up where he left off with a convincing 7-6, 6-3 win over Arthur Fils. Ben Shelton squeaked one out over Martin Damm, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. And Tommy Paul fell to Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets.
🎾 What you all said: A few dozen of you hit the reply button to yesterday’s newsletter so that you could register your disappointment in Taylor Townsend’s decision to play mixed doubles with Alexander Zverev at the U.S. Open. Here’s where you all took it…
“Has she run out of friends?” “Can somebody get her head examined?” and “Is she under duress?” were questions raised.
Others hoped Zverev wouldn’t make it to the court. “Maybe he can sustain a Roland Garros-type of injury between now and then,” and “Hopefully his courtesy car driver gets lost, and they can’t find their way out of East New York.”
Extra points for creativity: “I hope he falls into a sinkhole and has to live the rest of his life underground with the manhole people.” (Reference.)
🎾 A first: Cruz Hewitt, the 17-year-old son of Lleyton Hewitt, had a bit of an asterisk next to his main draw slot in Washington. His two rounds of qualifying were won thanks to his opponents retiring. But, in his first-ever tour-level main draw match, he notched a straight-set win over Marcos Giron. In part, he credited his father with good advice, even if he felt some amount of pressure in carrying the family name.
What he said: “(He told me) mainly to enjoy it, because it was my first tour-level match ... and to take every point one-by-one, to enjoy the atmosphere and to enjoy the crowd and that is what I did,” Hewitt said after his match. “There is obviously a little bit of pressure, but I try to take the positives out of it as well, and I am happy with how I am dealing with it so far.”
Next: Hewitt faces sometimes mentor Alex de Minaur in the second round, if de Minaur gets past Tsitsipas today.
🎾 One to watch: Alex Eala vs. Leylah Fernandez (2nd round - WTA 500 - Washington): Two fiery lefties who love to crank groundies facing off in the first match of the day? Yes, please.
The record: Leylah Fernandez leads the head-to-head record over Alex Eala 1-0 after a meeting on the clay of Hamburg earlier this year.
On the line: As the defending champion, all pressure is on Fernandez to get through and keep her ranking up so that she can snag one of the last seeding positions at the U.S. Open. Meanwhile, Eala is undoubtedly looking to bank more matches on the way to Flushing Meadows.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 64% of you called for Alex de Minaur to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas. The match was postponed for rain, so we’ll see how it shakes out today.)
And that’s game.
