Recap US Open 2024 Day Nine (Tuesday 3 September) as Americans rule the roost in history making session

The 9th day of the US Open had some pretty interesting results, so let’s recap what happened in the four matches that were played.

The first quarter-finals at the US Open took place, and we now know which players are through to the semi-finals. Some of these players could even find themselves in the finals or possibly win the trophy, so we’re basically down to the best. All four of the matches were played on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and we’ll start with the first one, which was a match between Emma Navarro and Paula Badosa.

Never count out Navarro

This was a pretty interesting one because, on one hand, we had Paula Badosa, who was playing amazing tennis in recent weeks. She looked on fire at the US Open, and having beaten Navarro earlier this year, the Spaniard seemed like a safe pick to go through. It wouldn’t happen because Navarro would end up winning the match.

She has been playing superb tennis in recent weeks as well, and with a couple of notable wins here, the American’s confidence grew to a really high level, and she never looked back. She took an early break in this one and never stopped putting pressure on Badosa, who caved under the pressure. Even when she found a bit of rhythm in the second set, Badosa would end up throwing it all away.

She was up 5-1 in the second set but then lost all of that to lose the match in two sets, which was the first time something like that happened to her. New York-born Emma Navarro is through to the semi-finals.

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Fantastic Fritz achieves Grand Slam destiny

The second match on Ashe featured Taylor Fritz facing Alexander Zverev. Much like the first match on Ashe, we once again had a player that had the full backing of the crowd despite being the underdog. Zverev was expected to win the match because Fritz had been a solid matchup for him. He was the player with more experience and actually a player who stood in the US Open semi-final before.

None of that helped as Fritz came out with a lot of motivation, and he kept pushing and pushing until he finally got what he wanted. Overall, it was a pretty pale showing from Zverev, who could have certainly played much better. Fritz was very good, but he wasn’t at his best either. It was somewhat similar to their match at Wimbledon earlier this year because when it really came down to it, Zverev had no solutions.

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Fritz has never been in a Grand Slam final before, and he certainly won’t stop here. He wants the final, and judging by how some of the other matches went, there is a pretty decent chance that he’ll get it done. The reason being is that he’s facing Frances Tiafoe, against whom he has a favourable matchup.

Terrific Tiafoe sets up all American clash

Even though this was the last match of the day, we’re going to recap it before the Sabalenka match to keep the storyline going. So the win ensures that we’ll have an American in the final, which is a major thing for the event and the fans. It only remains to be seen whether it will be Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe. Both will have a decent shot because, much like Fritz, Tiafoe is playing a really solid event.

While his win over Dimitrov did come over a retirement, we had a really good battle in the two opening sets, and Tiafoe was on top of Dimitrov for much of that. He’s serving really well, which unlocks his game. He’s hitting the ball really well from the baseline as well. He’s not committing too many mistakes, and he looks very focused and determined, which is always a question mark with him.

A slice of American history as Tiafoe returns from the tennis doldrums.

The American is also being very aggressive, going to the net at any chance he gets, and the crowd loves him, which only motivates him further. Overall, it’s just been a very solid past few weeks for Tiafoe, who made the Cincinnati Open final as well, though he lost to Jannik Sinner there. Now it’s about conquering Taylor Fritz for him, something with which he’s had some issues in the past.

Superb Sabalenka masters Zheng

The final match we’ll recap was actually the first night shift match between Zheng and Sabalenka. We left it last because it just cemented Sabalenka as the overwhelming favourite to win the US Open. Zheng has been really good in recent weeks and was playing super solid tennis at the US Open, but she wasn’t even close to winning this match. Sabalenka dominated the match from start to finish.

It is a bit of a matchup problem for the Chinese player because she does tend to struggle against Sabalenka historically. None of the matches they played have been that close, but the story of the match is the level of Sabalenka, which is peaking right now. She’s been playing superbly well dating back to Cincinnati, where she smashed Iga Swiatek en route to the trophy.

Favourite for the title: Aryna Sabalenka.

The Polish player is the biggest name remaining in the draw that could bother her, and she’ll certainly be favoured in a matchup between them. It’s just been an amazing US Open campaign for Sabalenka, who arrived pretty hungry after missing out on the trophy last year. We know what happened last year and how a mental collapse caused her to lose the trophy.

She described herself as stronger this year, and it’s showing so far. She’s been amazing and likely to continue that all the way to the moment when she lifts the trophy. We’ll see whether it comes to that, but for now, these are the semi-finalists we know so far. We’ll get the full picture after today’s quarter-finals are played, so stick with us for that and go check out our preview of today’s day of tennis in New York.