The hot and humid weather became the official scapegoat for the less than Quarter-final worthy play fans witnessed on day 9.
Ostapenko went down 0 and 2 to Gauff in a comedy of errors. Few in the stadium were laughing. Those tickets are expensive.
Ostapenko’s scapegoat wasn’t the weather, though, but the scheduling. She’d been told after beating Swiatek that she’d be the night match. Instead, she was on at midday. Such last minute switcheroos are more commonly found on reality TV than professional sports. The US Open is far from alone in scheduling its home players favorably and Gauff took full advantage. All she had to do was follow the most basic of tennis maxims – keep the ball in play. And she could do it in peace and quiet, too, for there wasn’t even a peep from Gilbert. Thank the tennis Gods. The heat and his chanting might have sent Gauff crazy, too.
Fans would have hoped for better for their second, and last, match of the day session. Not in that heat, though. Fritz’s brain seemed fried as he went down tamely in the opening two sets against Djokovic. The third was a little more competitive with Fritz getting breaks and forcing Djokovic to fight for the win. Fritz couldn’t consolidate, however, and his rival roared in approval. The Djokovic noise gave the impression that something exciting was happening down in that fiery cauldron of a stadium court.
The evening session took off from where the day one left. Cirstea dropped the first set 0-6 to Muchova. She did fight, despite the steamy conditions, and it was obvious from her demonstrativeness how much her first slam quarter final since 2009 meant to her. The Romanian managed to make more of a match of it in the second, breaking serve. However she could not hold on to her lead. Muchova was tremendously solid, taking the set 6-3, and added a semi-final at the USO to her impressive results of late.
I didn’t watch the final match of the day, Tiafoe vs Shelton. It’s too late. I had naïve hopes for those fans who were still tuned in or who were suffering in the AA sweat pit. This match would be the one. That quarter final where both players leave it all out on the court and goes down as one of the year’s classics.
Alas, it was not to be. By all account, Tiafoe went down to Shelton more timidly than we would have expected, the younger American winning in four and reaching his first slam semi.
The heat is not going anywhere anytime soon, either. In fact, forecasts suggest it’s going to get even tougher for the players and the fans. Oh, and rain is coming, too.
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