New York: Naomi Osaka spiked her racket after one errant forehand late in the second set at the U.S. Open, then flung it the length of the baseline after a missed backhand return ceded that tiebreaker.
Sometimes, that’s the sort of reaction it takes to right things for Osaka. And, perhaps surprisingly, she needed whatever push she could get in Friday’s third-round match. Facing an opponent competing in just her second major tournament, two-time Grand Slam champion Osaka eventually figured out a way to turn a tight one into a runaway and beat 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 by claiming the final five games at Flushing Meadows. “While I was playing, honestly, I was cursing myself out,” Osaka said during an on-court interview, “so you wouldn’t want to know what I was saying.”
After taking things out on her racket, Osaka sat with a white towel draped over head during a changeover. “It’s what I do in times of extreme anger and frustration,” she said.
Still, she improved to 7-0 since tennis resumed after a hiatus of more than five months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s impressive, to be sure, but still a long way from what top-ranked Novak Djokovic has done in 2020. He is 26-0 this season — and his winning streak dating to late last year is now at 29 matches — after a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 28 seed Jan-Lennard Struff on Friday night.
Djokovic’s bid for a fourth championship in New York and 18th Grand Slam title overall — Roger Federer, with 20, and Rafael Nadal, with 19, are the only men with more, and neither entered this tournament — will continue in the fourth round against 20th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta on Sunday.
Another past U.S. Open champion moving into the fourth round Friday was 2016 titlist Angelique Kerber, who defeated 20-year-old American Ann Li 6-3, 6-4. Kerber’s next opponent is another American, 28th-seeded Jennifer Brady, a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Caroline Garcia. In the previous round, Garcia upset top-seeded Karolina Pliskova.
Next up for Osaka will be big hitter Anett Kontaveit, an Estonian seeded 14th. She had a much easier time in a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 24 Magda Linette.
In the day’s last women’s match, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat 63rd-ranked American Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-3. She’ll face another American, 93rd-ranked Shelby Rogers, in the next round.
Men reaching the fourth round included No. 5 Alexander Zverev, No. 7 David Goffin, No. 12 Denis Shapovalov — who won a five-setter over No. 19 Taylor Fritz — Jordan Thompson and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The day ended with a meltdown by No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who wasted six match points in the fourth set and fell to Borna Coric 6-7 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4).
It was the second straight match that the 27th-seeded Coric went five sets and more than four hours for a win. Down 5-1 in the fourth set, he broke Tsitsipas three straight times, fighting off six break points.
Zverev’s four-set win over No. 32 Adrian Mannarino began more than 2 1/2 hours later than planned in Louis Armstrong Stadium after the state of New York got involved in whether Mannarino should be allowed to continue to participate at all.
Mannarino is part of a group of seven players who were placed under extra restrictions during the tournament — including being tested every day for the coronavirus — because contact tracing determined they potentially could have been exposed to COVID-19 by Benoit Paire, the only entrant to test positive.
Bopanna-Shapovalov
Experienced Indian Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov advanced to the second round of the US Open men’s doubles event after a straight-set win here. Bopanna and Shapovalov hardly broke a sweat to get past their American rivals Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin 6-2 6-4 in their tournament opener that lasted one hour and 22 minutes on Friday.
The Indo-Canadian pair will next play sixth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. Bopanna is the lone surviving Indian in the tournament after the exits of Sumit Nagal and Divij Sharan. (Agencies)
