Upsets at US Open: Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Felix Auger-Aliassime Among High-Profile Casualties

Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Musetti.

What reads like a high-quality quarterfinal field at a Masters tournament is actually part of the list of high-profile casualties in the first two rounds of the US Open.

Rune (seeded 4th), Auger-Aliassime (15) and Musetti (18) already fell at their opening hurdle, Ruud (5th), who is even higher and who had even reached the final in Flushing Meadows last year, and Tsitsipas (7th place). ) joined on Wednesday.

For classification: The defeats of the top 20 players were not quite as surprising as on paper.

Auger-Aliassime, Tsitsipas, Ruud: problems with the stars

And Ruud, who was in the final of the French Open less than three months ago, will find it difficult in 2023, especially against players outside the top 50. The 4:6, 7:5, 2:6, 6:0, 2:6 defeat against the Chinese Zhang Zhizhen was the ninth (!) against an opponent of this size in the current calendar year. Only two top five players have ever done worse in this category: Yevgeny Kafelnikov (11, 2000) and Nikolay Davydenko (10, 2007).

Nevertheless, a man should have heard the resignation of the supposedly big fish benevolently.

Favorites die: Djokovic has an advantage over Alcaraz

Ruud, Tsitsipas, Rune, Auger-Aliassime and Musetti have one more thing in common: they were all in Novak Djokovic’s half.

For the man from Belgrade, who is chasing his 24th Grand Slam title when he returns to New York, the field is slowly but surely clearing.

With the Americans Taylor Fritz (9), Frances Tiafoe (10) and Tommy Paul (14), only three of the top 20 professionals remain on Djokovic’s potential path to the final.

Carlos Alcaraz (1) faces a much rockier path in the upper half of the tournament with stars like Alexander Zverev (12), Jannik Sinner (6), Daniil Medvedev (3) and Andrey Rublev (8). In addition, dark horses like Hubert Hurkacz, Matteo Berrettini and Andy Murray lurk.

Djokovic sends a declaration of war to the competition

If Djokovic continues to play as before, it almost doesn’t matter who faces him. The 36-year-old presented himself in frightening early form in his first two appearances.

“I think I can play even better,” said Djokovic, but was very satisfied with his performance and the little time he had to spend on the court so far (only 3:35 hours in total): “I’m just happy Being back in New York and playing in front of you guys at Arthur Ashe Stadium is what gives me strength and motivation at 36.”

Bad news for the (remaining) competition…

2023-08-31 10:37:00
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