Nadal tested in match lasting more than 4 hours
Rafael Nadal’s knee was bothering him. His decadeyounger, barrel-chested U.S. Open foe was bashing the ball.
The defending champion was two points away from falling into a two-set hole. Then he was two points away from dropping the third set. And then he was one point from losing the fourth set and being pushed to a fifth.
As all of those key moments presented themselves, he managed to come through. The No. 1-ranked Nadal overcame a shaky start Friday and used his customary relentless style to wear down No. 27 seed Karen Khachanov physically and mentally, eventually getting to the fourth round with an entertaining and back-andforth 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) victory that took 4 hours, 23 minutes.
“I escaped a very tough situation,” Nadal said, “so it’s a great thing.”
In sum, he handled the particularly crucial points better than Khachanov did.
The man Nadal beat in last year’s final at Flushing Meadows, No. 5 Kevin Anderson, got through his own tough test against an up-and-coming opponent, edging No. 28 Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
After Nadal finished, Ashe was the site for Serena Williams vs. Venus Williams, Part 30. It’s their earliest meeting at a Grand Slam tournament in 20 years.
In other men’s action, Dominic Thiem also won a lengthy match to reach the fourth round.
The No. 9 seed beat American Taylor Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a match that lasted 3 hours, 19 minutes.
Each of the last two sets took more than an hour before Thiem moved on to a matchup with Anderson.
Thiem won a five-set match that lasted 3:34 against another American, Steve Johnson, in the previous round.
In women’s action, No. 7 seed Elina Svitolina reached the U.S. Open’s fourth round for the second consecutive year, eliminating 52nd-ranked Wang Qiang 6-4, 6-4.
Svitolina will try to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time when she faces No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova on Sunday.
Defending U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens grabbed the last three games after a brief break while the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof was shut because of a light rain and beat two-time runner-up Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
Stephens had gone from leading 3-1 to trailing 4-3 in the second set when drops fell and the decision was made to close the arena.
The No. 3 seed Stephens will face No. 15 Elise Mertens next.
Mertens continued her breakthrough season with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 23 Barbora Strycova.
Mertens had never won a match at Flushing Meadows until this week.
The 22-year-old Belgian has now completed a full set of career-best showings at each Grand Slam tournament in 2018. She got to the semifinals at the Australian Open, the fourth round at the French Open and the third round at Wimbledon.
There’s just one weekend left before the NFL starts the regular season. Thousands of fantasy football leagues will be drafting. Here are my position rankings with tiers to help you prepare. Tier 1 Aaron Rodgers is a sure thing when it comes to consistent high fantasy scoring. But since only 12 start, the difference between No. 1 isn’t that far off from No. 12. Since you start anywhere from two to three running backs and receivers, you’d be better off using your early capital on those slots. I wouldn’t take Rodgers before the fourth round. 1. Aaron Rodgers, GB Tier 2 This second tier has three quarterbacks with one thing in common. All three are talented runners, and that’s a big factor in determining fantasy value for quarterbacks. 2. Russell Wilson, SEA 3. Cam Newton, CAR 4. Deshaun Watson, HOU Tier 3 Drew Brees tops this tier, but like with most tiers, the guy at the bottom could end up on top. This is definitely the case with this group. 5. Drew Brees, NO 6. Kirk Cousins, MIN 7. Tom Brady, NE 8. Carson Wentz, PHI 9. Matthew Stafford, DET 10. Ben Roethlisberger, PIT Tier 4 Despite some worrisome play in the preseason, I still have Andrew Luck topping this tier. He still has T.Y. Hilton, and he could work out the kinks before the season starts. It could end up working out in your favor if his average draft position drops. 11. Andrew Luck, IND 12. Philip Rivers, LAC 13. Matt Ryan, ATL 14. Jared Goff, LAR 15. Dak Prescott, DAL Tier 1 It doesn’t matter much to me if you swap the two ball carriers in this tier — they’ll both score big this season. I just think Bell is the bigger workhorse. 1. Le’Veon Bell, PIT 2. Todd Gurley, LAR Tier 2 If David Johnson finishes the season as the top fantasy running back, I wouldn’t be surprised. 3. David Johnson, ARI 4. Ezekiel Elliott, DAL Tier 3 I nearly had Melvin Gordon in the second tier based on his workhorse status. He touched the ball nearly 350 times in 2017. Instead, I have him topping this group. There are a lot of options here, and I don’t see a lot of drop-off from Gordon to Devonta Freeman. 5. Melvin Gordon, LAC 6. Alvin Kamara, NO 7. Leonard Fournette, JAC 8. Saquon Barkley, NYG 9. Christian McCaffrey, CAR 10. Kareem Hunt, KC 11. Dalvin Cook, MIN 12. Devonta Freeman, ATL Tier 4 McCoy is coming off of a second straight season of over 1,000 yards rushing while making at least 50 receptions. He’s currently battling a groin injury, but it should be noted that he hasn’t been much of an injury risk over the years. 13. LeSean McCoy, BUF 14. Joe Mixon, CIN 15. Jerick McKinnon, SF 16. Jordan Howard, CHI 17. Alex Collins, BAL Tier 5 Dion Lewis will be a great value, and I see him finishing with more fantasy points than teammate Derrick Henry. Lewis is getting drafted in the fifth round, while Henry is getting taken in the third. I think it’s a bit risky to spend that kind of draft capital on Henry, who merely flashed a few times last season. 18. Dion Lewis, TEN 19. Royce Freeman, DEN 20. Jay Ajayi, PHI 21. Kenyan Drake, MIA 22. Lamar Miller, HOU 23. Marshawn Lynch, OAK 24. Rex Burkhead, NE 25. Derrick Henry, TEN Tier 6 Chris Carson is flying up my best-value list. He’s getting drafted in the seventh round, due to expectations that Rashaad Penny will take over the Seahawks’ backfield. That may not be true, however. Carson has played well this preseason, and Penny is dealing with a broken finger. 26. Chris Carson, SEA 27. Tevin Coleman, ATL 28. Mark Ingram, NO 29. Sony Michel, NE 30. Isaiah Crowell, NYJ 31. Kerryon Johnson, DET 32. Robert Kelley, WAS Tier 1
Antonio Brown is at the top of his game and was just a single touchdown shy of scoring at least 10 for four straight years last season. He’s on a streak of five years in a row of gaining more than 1,200 yards. You should draft a consistent, high-scoring, can’t-miss player in the top five, and Brown is one. 1. Antonio Brown, PIT Tier 2 With DeShaun Watson returning from injury, the sky is the limit for DeAndre Hopkins. He’s scored 28 touchdowns over the last three seasons, including 13 last year. Hopkins may not match that touchdown figure, but his career average is 7.2 per season. 2. DeAndre Hopkins, HOU 3. Odell Beckham Jr., NYG 4. Julio Jones, ATL Tier 3 He doesn’t wow you, but Michael Thomas is a consistent contributor with a high floor of expectations. He’s gained at least 1,100 yards in each of his first two seasons. Despite the Saints taking on a run-centered offense last season, Thomas was still a big part of the game plan. He was targeted at least eight times in 14 of 16 games last year. 5. Michael Thomas, NO 6. Keenan Allen, LAC 7. Davante Adams, GB Tier 4 The biggest problem with A.J. Green is his quarterback and the protection his quarterback lacks. Despite a bad season for the Bengals last year, Green still gained over 1,000 yards and scored eight touchdowns. 8. A.J. Green, CIN 9. Adam Thielen, MIN 10. T.Y. Hilton, IND 11. Stefon Diggs, MIN 12. Mike Evans, TB Tier 5 Larry Fitzgerald will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but he’s not quite done yet. Sam Bradford is the new quarterback for the Cardinals, and he’s very accurate on short routes, a strength of Fitzgerald.
13. Larry Fitzgerald, ARI Tier 7 Jarvis Landry has a new home, and he should be effective enough to provide value as a WR2. Tyrod Taylor is definitely an upgrade from the quarterbacks Landry had last season in Miami. 21. Jarvis Landry, CLE 22. Brandin Cooks, LAR 23. Allen Robinson, CHI 24. Corey Davis, TEN 25. Josh Gordon, CLE Tier 8 Marquise Goodwin had his most productive weeks last season when Jimmy Garoppolo took over the starting quarterback job. Goodwin isn’t just going deep, utilizing his world-class speed, he’s making catches all over the field. 26. Chris Hogan, NE 27. Marquise Goodwin, SF 28. Robby Anderson, NYJ 29. Cooper Kupp, LAR 30. Emmanuel Sanders, DEN
31. Nelson Agholor, PHI Tier 1 No surprise at the top of this tier, but Rob Gronkowski isn’t in a tier of his own anymore. Zach Ertz was outstanding last year, catching 74 passes for 824 yards and eight touchdowns. 1. Rob Gronkowski, NE 2. Zach Ertz, PHI 3. Travis Kelce, KC Tier 2 I still like Evan Engram even though he’s not the only reliable target in New York anymore. Last season he had to lead the way with Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall and Sterling Shepard all missing time. 4. Evan Engram, NYG 5. Jimmy Graham, GB 6. Greg Olsen, CAR 7. Trey Burton, CHI Tier 3 8. Delanie Walker, TEN 9. Kyle Rudolph, MIN 10. Ricky Seals-Jones, ARI 11. Jared Cook, OAK 12. Jordan Reed, WAS Tier 4 13. George Kittle, SF 14. David Njoku, CLE 15. O.J. Howard, TB 16. Jack Doyle, IND