Stephens wins 2nd brutal match
Sloane Stephens has had a brutal draw in the opening two rounds, both personally and
professionally. After getting past Madison Keys in the opening round, in a rematch of the 2017 women's singles final, she faced another good friend and compatriot in No. 21 seed Coco Gauff. After winning a third-set tiebreak against Keys, the 28year-old was ruthlessly efficient against Gauff in a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Medvedev, Tsitsipas stay on track. The Russian has not been troubled in his bid to improve upon a 2019 final and 2020 semifinal in New York. He went four sets against Dominik Koepfer on his way to the '19 final, but needed just three on the day for a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 verdict. Tsitsipas faced Adrian Mannarino at night. After surviving a five-set thriller against Andy Murray in Round 1, Tsitsipas never trailed in this one. The Frenchman got on the board by taking a third-set tiebreak, but after leaving the court to change clothes following the breaker, Tsitsipas raced through a bagel final set to advance, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-0. Sabalenka, the world No. 2 thought she broke a finger after taking a fall midway through the opening set of her win against Tamara Zidansek, when she hit her hand on the Grandstand pavement.
"I hit it really hard," she said following the 6-3, 6-1 victory. "We'll see tomorrow what's going on with my fingers, because right now it's a little bit bigger (smiling). The color of my finger is changing. It's getting darker.
While No. 2 seed Sabalenka did it the hard way, thirdseeded Naomi Osaka advanced via a walkover, as opponent Olga Danilovic withdrew ahead of their secondround match.
Three upsets dotted the men's draw, with No. 8 seed Casper Ruud now the highest seed to be bounced across both singles brackets. The Norweigan entered the Open as one of the ATP's in-form players, sitting at a careerhigh of world No. 11. But it was world No. 117 Botic van de Zandschulp who found form on Court 13, coming from behind to secure his his first third-round Slam showing, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. There was no such trouble on the women's side, where each of the top 20 seeds are still standing. Gauff, seeded No. 21, became the topranked player to fall, while No. 31 Ekaterina Alexandrova was the only other seeded exit.