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Welcome to the U.S. Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On day 10 of the U.S. Open 2024, two players continued their straight-set serenity and the holder of an unwanted singles record made strides in doubles.
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From an unwanted singles streak to a doubles champion?
Earlier in this tournament, Zhang Shuai lost her 23rd straight singles match, extending her record for the longest winless run on either the men’s or women’s tours in the Open Era.
It wasn’t the end of Zhang’s U.S. Open story. While her singles career continues to unravel, Zhang has found solace on the doubles court.
A two-time women’s doubles Grand Slam champion, Zhang is through to the final with France’s Kristina Mladenovic, and they had to do it the hard way. They knocked out home favourite Taylor Townsend and Czech partner Katerina Siniakova in a tight three-setter on Wednesday afternoon, after beating Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei and Belgium’s Elise Mertens, both former doubles No. 1s, in the first round.
Zhang Shuai lost to American Ashlyn Krueger in the first round of the singles (Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
Zhang showed impressive resolve to serve out the match given she hasn’t been able to get over the line in singles since January 2023. Zhang and Mladenovic will take on Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok, who are looking for their first Grand Slam doubles title, in Friday’s final. Having begun the tournament with huge disappointment, Zhang has the chance to end it in major style.
Charlie Eccleshare
Can straight-set serenity continue?
Of the eight semifinalists in the men’s and women’s singles, three have made it this far without dropping a set. Karolina Muchova, Jack Draper, and Jessica Pegula are yet to concede one, with Pegula’s impressive 6-2, 6-4 victory over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek rounding off Muchova’s 6-1, 6-4 result against No. 22 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and Draper’s 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 against Alex de Minaur, seeded No. 1o.
The last man to win the U.S. Open without dropping a set was Neale Fraser in 1960; the last woman? That would be Emma Raducanu, who went 20-0 in sets to win the title in 2021, including qualifying matches.
Muchova and Pegula face off, so one of their records has to come to an end. Draper will face Jannik Sinner or Daniil Medvedev. Should he get through that without dropping a set, the final on Sunday will surely have its new favourite.
James Hansen
A rare tournament of champions not quite finding a way?
Often when a champion is down, you still feel that they will come back and rescue the situation. That is, after all, what great champions do — they find a way when playing badly.
But at this year’s U.S. Open, not so much. On Wednesday night, Iga Swiatek followed Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in making pretty limp exits out of the tournament.
Djokovic did at least win a set in his defeat to Alexei Popyrin, but he never really looked like turning the match around. Alcaraz briefly flickered; Swiatek got back into the match against Jessica Pegula for a couple of games and then reverted to being broken and hitting unforced errors.
Iga Swiatek was unable to turn her quarterfinal around (Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images)
Why does this keep happening? It’s hard to shake off the feeling that after their various endeavours and successes this season, these three great champions just had nothing left physically and emotionally.
It’s certainly made for great entertainment, while also adding weight to Swiatek’s argument that the tennis calendar is too demanding and leaves the players out of gas well before the end of the season.
Charlie Eccleshare
Shot of the day
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U.S. Open men’s draw 2024
U.S. Open women’s draw 2024
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(Top photo of Zhang Shuai: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
