Rafael Nadal overcame a horrid start and a bloody nose to beat Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 and reach the third round of the US Open on Thursday. Teenager Carlos Alcaraz fended off a late push from veteran Argentine Federico Coria to emerge with a 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 win to reach the third round where he will face American Jenson Brooksby.
Fognini came out flying to build a set and a 4-2 lead as Nadal struggled to find his rhythm. Momentum shifted in Nadal’s favour in the third set when he raced down an overhead and crushed a forehand down the line to break Fognini and take a 4-2 lead.
He broke the fading Fognini again to capture the third set and appeared to be cruising to the finish line when, while leading 3-0 in the fourth set, his racket bounced off the court and struck him sharply on the bridge of his nose.
That led to a medical timeout where the 22-time grand slam champion lay on his back with his eyes closed as a pink bandage was applied to stop the bleeding. Nadal regrouped and with the backing of the partisan crowd sealed the win on Fognini’s 60th unforced error. After the match, Nadal said the blow from the racket left him dizzy and in pain. “At the beginning, I thought I broke the nose because it was a shock at the beginning. Was very painful.”
In the next round Nadal meets Richard Gasquet who defeated Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Alcaraz on track
Alcaraz used his all-court speed and punishing forehand to win the final 10 points of the first set and broke Coria’s serve to open the second to cruise to a 2-0 sets lead. Coria pushed the young Spaniard in a marathon game at 4-4 in the third set.
But the third seed rifled two unreturnable serves to get out of trouble and sealed the win with a two-handed backhand for his 46th victory of the year. Next up Alcaraz is a meeting with Brooksby who beat Borna Coric 6-4, 7-6(10), 6-1.
Jabeur advances
Tunisian fifth seed Ons Jabeur recovered from a set down to beat American Shelby Rogers 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and reach the last 16 for the first time at the US Open.
Sixth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka edged out Kaia Kanepi 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 but fourth-seeded Paula Badosa was knocked out 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 by Croatian Petra Martic. In women’s doubles, Serena and Venus Williams lost 7-6 (5), 6-4 to the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round.
Indians lose
Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan made early exits from their respective events. While Bopanna lost his opening round matches in both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles, Ramanathan was shown the door in the opening round of men’s doubles.
No to handshake
Geopolitical tensions simmered at the US Open on Thursday as Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk refused the customary handshake at the net when Belarusian Victoria Azarenka defeated her 6-2, 6-3 in the second round. The pair just exchanged a quick tap of the racket on Court 17. “Well, I wasn’t surprised. I don’t believe that making a big deal out of it is important,” said Azarenka, who added that Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska had done the same in Washington, D.C., last month. “I cannot force anybody to shake my hand. How did it make me feel? It’s not the most important thing in the world right now.”
Kyrgios fined
Fiery Australian Nick Kyrgios has been fined $7,500 for “spitting and audible obscenities” during his second-round win on Wednesday.
