By Kevin Rademeyer, Sports Journalist.
Photo Credit: US Open.
The final week of the US Open begins with the pressure turned up and little room for error, as the tournament enters its decisive stages after almost two weeks of relentless action. Every point now carries greater weight, and among Monday’s standout clashes is a heavyweight meeting between Naomi Osaka and second seed Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina has reached this stage without dropping a set and knows the stakes extend beyond a place in the semi finals. Victory would take her above Aryna Sabalenka and make her the new world No 1.But Osaka is hardly an opponent to welcome at this stage.
The Japanese star has won four Grand Slam titles, including two US Opens, and more than two years after returning to the tour following maternity leave, she is beginning to look like a player capable of making another deep run.
Her progress this season tells the story. Osaka reached the third round of the Australian Open, the last 16 at Roland Garros and then produced the best Wimbledon run of her career by reaching the quarter finals, beating Sabalenka along the way.
Rybakina has the head to head advantage, 1 0, but Osaka knows what is required. “I know she’s one of the best players in the world, so I have no choice but to come with a high level,” Osaka said. “I think that’s when the most exciting tennis is.”
She’ll need to maintain that level for longer periods than she has managed in New York so far. Victories over Katerina Siniakova and Elise Mertens contained worrying mid match dips, and against a player as clean and powerful as Rybakina, those lapses could be punished immediately.
Elsewhere, Alexander Zverev, the top seeded men’s player, faces Italy’s Luciano Darderi on with a place in the quarter finals at stake, having endured two five set battles before finding a more comfortable route past Alejandro Tabilo. He will need another step forward against the 21st seed if he is to keep his New York campaign on course.
Zverev has become a fixture of the Arthur Ashe Stadium night session, and without Sinner in the draw has another shot at a Grand slam trophy.
Francisco Cerundolo and Alexander Blockx also meet in an intriguing match, with both players having already ventured into unfamiliar territory in Flushing Meadows.
Cerundolo produced the biggest win of his US Open career by recovering from two sets down to beat ninth seeded American Taylor Fritz. The Argentine, the highest ranked Latin American player on the ATP Tour, now has a chance to go deeper than ever before in New York.
Standing opposite him is 21 year old Belgian Blockx, who is playing in the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.
His route here was every bit as impressive. Seeded at a major for the first time, Blockx knocked out fifth seeded French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli in four sets.
Twelve months ago he was ranked 116th in the world. Making the second week was his target. Now the target has to move.
Blockx has already beaten Cerundolo once, on clay in Madrid earlier this year, but he knows the circumstances have changed dramatically. “Now, conditions are completely different,” Blockx said. “We are both really confident, playing good tennis, so it will be an exciting match.”
Then there is Iga Swiatek against Zheng Qinwen, a rivalry that has overwhelmingly favoured the Pole but carries one particularly painful memory.
Swiatek leads their head to head 7- 1. Zheng’s only victory, however, came on one of the biggest stages imaginable, when she beat Swiatek in the semi finals of the Paris Olympics before going on to win gold.
Since then, Zheng’s career has been interrupted by injury. Her recovery from elbow surgery lasted longer than expected, sending the former world No 4 tumbling down the rankings and forcing her to qualify for this year’s US Open.
She has responded in dramatic fashion.
Zheng came back from 0 5 down in the deciding set to stun Madison Keys in the third round, keeping alive an unlikely run that now takes her into a fourth round against one of the tournament’s most formidable opponents.
The last qualifier to reach this stage of the women’s singles draw was Emma Raducanu in 2021. She went on to win the title.
Swiatek will be determined to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.
The eighth seed has endured a below par year by her own standards, but her form heading into New York had improved sharply. She won her first title of the season in Toronto and now has another opportunity to remind the field why she remains one of the sport’s defining players.
On a day packed with high stakes, there are several routes to the quarter finals.
For Zverev, it’s about proving the early battles haven’t taken too much out of him. For Rybakina and Osaka, it’s a clash between present power and proven New York pedigree. And for Zheng, there is a chance to turn an extraordinary comeback into something much bigger.