Bencic stuns Osaka; Nadal gains US Open quarters

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 09:52:02 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) – Naomi Osaka’s achy left knee didn’t let her serve without pain, so she didn’t practice that key part of her game leading into the US Open. The knee also prevented her from covering the court and preparing for shots the way she’d like.

NAOMI Osaka

Those weren’t the only reasons that the No. 1-seeded Osaka’s 10-match winning streak at the US Open and title defense ended Monday in the fourth round. Belinda Bencic’s clean, crisp strokes, struck with the ball still on the rise, contributed plenty to the outcome, too.

Osaka joined 2018 men’s champion Novak Djokovic on the sideline before the quarterfinals, exiting with a 7-5, 6-4 loss to the 13th-seeded Bencic under a closed roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium on a rainy afternoon. Djokovic stopped playing in his fourth-rounder Sunday night because of a problematic left shoulder.

As for her powerful serve, Osaka called it “inconsistent,” saying she hadn’t been working on it coming into the year’s last Grand Slam tournament “because I can’t really land on my leg that great.”

Osaka has been wearing a black sleeve on the knee and was given a pain-killing pill by a trainer midway through the second set Monday.

By then, Bencic was up a set and a break, employing a quick-strike style of taking balls early and snapping them back, rushing Osaka and not leaving her not enough time to respond. It worked before: Bencic is now 3-0 against Osaka in 2019.

Bencic finished with far more winners, 29, than unforced errors, 12, and showed once again that she is a big-match player. She owns a tour-leading nine victories over top-10 opponents in 2019 and is 4-1 for her career against top-ranked players.

Bencic is 22, just a year older than Osaka, but her progress was slowed in recent years by injuries, including wrist surgery.

In men’s action, No. 2 Rafael Nadal’s bid for a fourth US Open trophy and 19th Slam title in all progressed via a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over 2014 champion Marin Cilic at night in front of an appreciative Ashe crowd that included Tiger Woods throwing uppercuts to celebrate spectacular shots.

Nadal’s quarterfinal foe will be No. 20 Diego Schwartzman, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 winner against No. 6 Alexander Zverev, who was undone by 17 double-faults.

No. 24 Matteo Berrettini gave Italy its first US Open men’s quarterfinalist since 1977 and made it this far himself for the first time at any major with a 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory over Andrey Rublev. Berrettini now plays No. 13 Gael Monfils, who overwhelmed Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

Osaka made her breakthrough at Flushing Meadows a year ago, winning her first major championship by beating Serena Williams in a chaotic final that devolved after Williams got into an extended argument with the chair umpire.

Osaka followed that up with a second consecutive Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open in January. That allowed her to become the first tenni
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