NEW YORK: Nick Kyrgios and Karen Khachanov are heading to the fifth set in their US Open quarterfinal. Khachanov won the first and third sets. Kyrgios won the second and fourth.
Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios is trying to follow up his fourth-round victory over defending champion Daniil Medvedev to reach what would be his first semifinal at Flushing Meadows.
Khachanov has never appeared in a major semifinal. The winner will face No. 5 Casper Ruud on Friday for a berth in the championship match.
Meanwhile, Ajla Tomljanovic felt like a villain when she beat Serena Williams. Tomljanovic will likely be known as the last opponent Williams faced at Flushing Meadows.
She might have felt bad about beating Williams. But she was proud of her own accomplishments at the Open after she lost on Tuesday. Ons Jabeur of Tunisia advanced to her first semifinal in New York with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory.
“I probably should reflect a little bit and just give myself a little pat on the back, because I do deserve it,” Tomljanovic said. “It’s probably my biggest thing that I’m bad at, that I just don’t give myself enough credit. I’m very hard on myself. Someone should come up to me and just say that I should give myself credit now because it’s due.”
Tomljanovic was unabashedly a fan of Williams, having grown up watching her play on TV. So, she just said she was sorry she beat Williams but didn't let the emotional win or distractions result in a letdown in her next match, another victory.
Tomljanovic is projected to have a career-best ranking at the end of the Open. She became the first Australian woman to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the US Open in a season since 1979.
“Sometimes I’m scared to almost get happy because I feel like, you know, I’m going to jinx myself for the next one or get too excited,” she said. “Yeah, there is like a mental block that I have with that stuff.”
ESPN said Tuesday that Williams’ expected farewell to Flushing Meadows was the most-watched tennis telecast in the network's 43-year history. Her loss last Friday to Ajla Tomljanovich drew 4.6 million viewers. The previous record of 3.9 million was for the 2012 Wimbledon final, when Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray, in ESPN’s first year with exclusivity.
The ratings peaked for the Williams match at 6.9 million viewers in the 10:15 p.m. quarter-hour as the match wound down. Through the first five days of the US Open, an average of 1.1. a million viewers tuned in to ESPN networks, up 101 per cent versus 2021. These are the most-viewed first five days of the US Open on record on ESPN networks.
Williams’ second-round victory over Anett Kontaveit averaged 3.6 million viewers.
Again, Casper Ruud has found his niche in Grand Slam events. All he needs now is a championship.
Ruud is one match closer to a US Open title after his 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over 2021 Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini in the quarterfinals. He faces the winner of Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios and No. 27 Karen Khachanov late Tuesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Ruud improved to 12-2 in Grand Slam matches in 2022 and he was a French Open finalist. The first Norwegian to make a US Open semifinal credits maturity in five matches to his recent turnaround in his most important matches.
“I feel like I, this year, have sort of figured out in the better way how to play five sets and knowing that it’s very different from playing best-of-three sets, and it often becomes much longer matches and a lot of back and forth,” he said.