Alcaraz and Norrie rush in 8th, Kvitova passes to the forceps

In express mode, Carlos Alcaraz hurried to reach the round of 16 at the US Open, where he has not yet lost a set, like Briton Cameron Norrie, just as in a hurry on Saturday, while waiting Rafael Nadal in night session.

The Spaniard, 4th in the world, only took 2h11 to send 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 the American Jenson Brooksby (43rd), confirming his status as a title contender. “I played very, very well. At a high level“, welcomed Alcaraz, 19, who will face in 8th the Croatian Marin Cilic (17th and 2014 winner) or the Briton Daniel Evans (23rd). Last year, for his first participation, the Spanish phenomenon was revealed in New York, joining the quarter-finals, after notably dismissing the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in a memorable match. This year, he confirmed his emergence, winning four tournaments including the Masters 1000 in Miami and Madrid.

After overwhelmingly dominating Brooksby in the first two sets, Alcaraz lost their face-off twice in a row at the start of the third set to trail 3-0. But he kept all his composure and lined up six games in a row to open the doors to the second week.

Rublev tears up

Cameron Norrie (9th) also continued his health walk in New York on Saturday, easily beating 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 Holger Rune (33rd). A third success in as many confrontations, after Lyon where he was then titled in May, and Cincinnati, where he reached the last four in mid-August. During the match, the 19-year-old Dane complained to the referee that he believed his British rival was deliberately throwing the ball badly on serve, catching it instead of hitting it. The latter defended himself:I struggle with throwing sometimes, it’s not intentional. Afterwards, I can understand that it could be boring to return“.

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Here is the 27-year-old Briton, semi-finalist at Wimbledon, who reached the round of 16 for the first time at Flushing Meadows. He will be opposed to the Russian Andrey Rublev (11th), who had to fight more than four hours to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-6 (10/7) Canadian Denis Shapovalov (21st). In the evening, Rafael Nadal has an appointment with Richard Gasquet (91st). An unbalanced confrontation on paper, since the Spaniard, who seeks to increase his record of Grand Slam titles to 23, leads 17-0 against the Frenchman.

Swiatek in the evening

Among the women, the day after the elimination of Serena Williams, marking the retirement of the legendary player at the 23 Grand Slams, things resumed their course and rather spectacularly, with the qualification of Petra Kvitova (21st), winning exit a fine duel against Garbine Muguruza (10th). The 32-year-old Czech has indeed overthrown 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (12/10) the Spaniard (10th), after a very tight and undecided match, in 2h41. Kvitova, a finalist in Cincinnati this summer, ended up having the last laugh in a high-flying tiebreak, after saving two match points at 6-5 against her. It’s his sixth victory in a row at the expense of Muguruza, who had won their very first confrontation. The Czech, champion at Wimbledon in 2014, will face the American Jessica Pegula (8th), who dropped a set against the modest Chinese Yue Yuan (142nd), winning 6-2, 6-7 (6/8) , 6-0.

Another qualified, Victoria Azarenka (26th) who was in a hurry to sweep 6-3, 6-0 the Croatian Petra Martic (54th). The Belarusian, three times finalist at Flushing Meadows, will face in the round of 16 the Swiss Belinda Bencic (13th) or the Czech Karolína Pliskova (22nd). Very solid from the start, the world No.1 Iga Swiatek will play in the evening against the American Lauren Davis (105th).