Key events
Muchova breaks: Haddad Maia 0-2 Muchova* (*denotes next server)
Muchova leads their head-to-head 3-0, by the way, and Tim Henman says on Sky that he has her down as a comfortable winner today in straight sets. Both are big talents, both are former top-10ers – but I’d give Muchova the edge too. And she’s likely to stay calmer under pressure if this match does get closer than Henman expects.
There are chances here for Muchova to break at 15-40 – but Haddad Maia slides her lefty serve to Muchova’s misfiring backhand on the first break point and Haddad Maia dispatches a winning volley on the second. Muchova gets one, two, make that three more break chances at her advantage and eventually takes it when Haddad Maia nets.
First set: Haddad Maia* 0-1 Muchova (*denotes next server)
This is an intriguing clash of styles: the clever and crafty Czech who has so much variety v the big-hitting Brazilian lefty who possesses the bigger weapons. And just to disprove that Muchova whacks two winners in the opening game and it’s 30-all. But then Haddad Maia injects some pace, and it’s 30-40, an early break point. Muchova, serving from the end that is covered in shade, averts the danger. Deuce. Advantage Haddad Maia, a second break point, she’s sending Muchova an early message here that she’s more than willing to attack the second serves. Deuce. Advantage Muchova. Game Muchova. The Czech will be relieved to hold.
Both players have gone under the radar this fortnight. But neither should be underestimated. Muchova is only unseeded because she was out for 10 months with a wrist injury after reaching the US Open semi-finals last year; the 28-year-old was also the French Open runner-up last year. Haddad Maia, also 28, is a former slam semi-finalist too, having gone that far at Roland Garros last year.
The first quarter-finalists of the day are warming up. It’s the unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova v the 22nd seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, the Brazilian who was absolutely beaming when she stepped on to court a few minutes ago. Haddad Maia got the bigger cheer, it has to be said, with plenty of South Americans in the crowd.
We’re hearing that De Minaur’s practice session on Arthur Ashe earlier was unusually short. Apparently he was hitting for only about 15 minutes and didn’t look too happy. Is he still having problems with the hip he injured at Wimbledon? Let’s hope not.
Tumaini Carayol
And here’s Tumaini’s preview of Draper v the Demon.
A couple of days after sealing his first career grand slam win, at Wimbledon, in 2022, a 20-year-old Jack Draper earned himself a rare chance to test his level against one of the sport’s rising stars over the best of five sets.
The early returns from his second-round bout on No 1 Court with Alex de Minaur were encouraging. Despite the 67 ranking places and three years separating them, they went blow to blow as equals and were level after the two tight, gripping sets.
The intensity of their exchanges, however, left a significant mark on the young challenger and Draper spent the remainder of the match panting and hunching over as he faded in the last two sets. Between his undeniable raw talent and the physical problems that eventually hampered him, the match was a perfect reflection of Draper’s early development.
They will meet again in the quarter-finals of the US Open on Wednesday, perhaps the biggest match of their careers. In a draw that has provided numerous upsets and early exits, with the third seed, Carlos Alcaraz, losing early in their section, there is no top player to conquer en route to the final four. This is a massive opportunity for both of them.
Even though De Minaur has embraced a more offensive playing style, taking the ball earlier and beefing up his forehand to impose himself on the top players, he will again aim to extend the exchanges, to wear Draper out and test all of the physical problems the young Briton has struggled with repeatedly since his emergence.
After so many injuries and absences, it has taken an admirable amount of work for Draper to build himself into an athlete capable of competing with the best. He must now show how far he has come, particularly against an opponent who has won all three of their encounters.
Despite reaching his first grand slam quarter-final without dropping a set, Draper repeatedly describes his run here as feeling strange. He is understandably not pleased with his first-serve average of 53%, but he has been incredibly clutch, saving 20 of 21 break points and losing his serve once, repeatedly stopping opponents from building any momentum.
Against a player and returner like De Minaur, he will clearly need to land more first serves and sustain aggression with his forehand. Draper has shown how well rounded his game is, mixing tidy net forays and serve and volley attempts. He will need them to keep De Minaur off balance and break down his defences.
Draper is an incredibly ambitious figure who strongly believes he can be a top player and spend most of his career competing for the biggest titles. But it has taken some time for him to gain that deep confidence.
You can read the rest here:
While we’re waiting for the action to start: Here are the day nine match reports for your perusal.
Preamble
Two months ago, amid Andy Murray’s tearful farewell to Wimbledon and Jack Draper’s first grand slam tournament as the British No 1, Draper was anointed by the scriptwriters as Murray’s ready-made successor, someone who could grasp the baton immediately and carry home hopes that fortnight. He’d had an eye-catching build-up to Wimbledon, beating Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s and winning his first ATP Tour title in Stuttgart, but he couldn’t adjust to the increased expectations and the 22-year-old was bundled out in the second round by the British No 2 Cameron Norrie, who then lost in the next round himself.
But here Draper is, just one grand slam later, playing in his first major quarter-final, eight years after Murray’s last appearance at this stage of US Open. And he’s not dropped a set to get this far. And he’s in the quarter of the draw that lost Alcaraz early on. Make no mistake, this is a superb chance to get to the semis for Draper, the lefty player who’s really right-handed (well Rafa Nadal made a pretty good career out of doing it).
But this is a great opportunity too for Alex de Minaur, who’s also having the best season of his life. The 25-year-old world No 10 is playing in his third consecutive slam quarter-final (he’s the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt 20 years ago to achieve that particular feat) and the fourth of his career, but crucially for him this is the first time he’s faced a lower-ranked opponent. He lost to the eventual champion Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open, the eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev at this year’s French Open and then had to withdraw before his last-eight match with Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon because of the hip injury that also kept him out of the Olympics. He’s exceeded his own expectations by reaching another quarter-final so soon in his recovery.
As for the head-to-head, De Minaur leads it 3-0, including the past two matches on hard courts, but Draper is a different player now, both physically and mentally, and De Minaur knows it. It’s going to be a lot of fun watching how this one plays out.
The match will begin: at approximately 2pm New York time/7pm BST.
Before that we’ve got the not-so-small-matter of: Karolina Muchova v Beatriz Haddad Maia in the women’s quarter-finals. Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up, reached the New York semis last year but has had a torrid time since, missing 10 months with a wrist injury, so the Czech is unseeded this time around. Haddad Maia is the first Brazilian woman to be playing in the US Open quarter-finals since Maria Bueno back in 1968. They’ll be stepping on to Arthur Ashe in about five minutes’ time.
