Day 4 Wrap-up 🌯 

Day 4 was a late one at the US Open with the final matches of the day finishing past the midnight hour. Here’s what went down…

🙋‍♀️ Starting with the women…

3rd seed Jessica Pegula 🇺🇸 cruised past Patricia Maria Tig 🇷🇴 6-3, 6-1 Thursday night to reach the third round.

Following her challenging opening round, Ons Jabeur 🇹🇷 encountered a similarly tough second round against 18-year-old Linda Noskova 🇨🇿. Jabeur ultimately prevailed 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 😮‍💨.

Wimbledon champ and 9th seed Marketa Vondrousova 🇨🇿 breezed past fellow lefty Martina Trevisan 🇮🇹 6-2, 6-2.

While, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka continued her hard court Slam dominance, defeating Jodie Burrage 🇬🇧 6-3, 6-2. It’s her ninth straight win on the surface after winning the Australian Open 🦘.

Elsewhere, No. 13 seed Daria Kasatkina and No. 14 seed Liudmila Samsonova are through 👍️ . 2017 finalist Madison Keys 🇺🇸 eased by lucky loser Yanina Wickmayer 🇧🇪 and Great Britain’s Katie Boulter 🇬🇧 beat Yafan Wang 🇨🇳 in 3 sets 🫖.

And finally, Mrs. Monfils a.k.a Elina Svitolina 🇺🇦 did one better than her husband edging out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Mid match the Ukrainian was even asking about her better-half 🥰 

🙋‍♂️ On the men’s side...

Carlos Alcaraz 🇪🇸 had an early night at the office, cruising past Lloyd Harris 🇿🇦 in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, 7-6.

He’ll now take on Dan Evans 🇬🇧 who won in four sets over former quarterfinalist Botic Van De Zandschulp 🇳🇱 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

Grigor Dimitrov 🇧🇬 squared up their Grand Slam H2H 2/2 when he took out crowd favourite Andy Murray 🇬🇧 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

The face of Gucci, Jannik Sinner 🇮🇹 continues to look strong powering past fellow countryman 🍝 Lorenzo Sonego 🇮🇹 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Sinner, kept his serve record alive having yet to drop it this US Open 👏.

Andrey Rublev took care of Mr Svitolina, a.k.a Gael Monfils 🇫🇷 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. While Daniil Medevev had a late night, overcoming Aussie Chris O’Connell 🇦🇺 at 1am in 4 sets.

Alex De Minaur 🇦🇺 , Alexander Zverev 🇩🇪 , Cameron Norrie 🇬🇧 and Swiss journeyman Stan Wawrinka 🇨🇭 all made it through to the next round.

And finally, it was time to say goodbye (in singles at least) 👋 to John Isner 🇺🇸. The veteran who was playing his last tournament lost to fellow American Michael Mmoh 🇺🇸 quite fittingly in a 5th set tiebreak 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 😅.

A resurgent Wozniacki 🇩🇰 💪 

After nearly 4 years away from tennis and 2 childbirths, the former world number one is into the US Open third round.

Achieving the unexpected 😲 To comeback from this long off, with all her previous injury battles and new commitments, nobody expected the Dane 🇩🇰 to win a match against tour hardened players, but so far she has proved pundits wrong 🙅‍♀️ going as far as beating world No. 11 Petra Kvitova 🇨🇿 in the last round.

A much awaited return 🫣  In June of this year, Wozniacki announced her plan to return to pro tennis. In her first match since early 2020, Wozniacki earned a win at the Canadian Open, but then fell in the following round to the No. 9 player. At the Cincinnati Open a week later, she lost the opening match.

So, expectations were not super high as she graced New York for an appearance at this year’s tournament, but the former Australian Open champion 🏆️ has not disappointed.

As good as ever 💪  The most impressive thing of her comeback has been the manner in which she has played so far on the blue hard courts. Wozniacki seems to be channeling her 2010 self when she was at the top of the sport. It’s like she has a chip on her shoulder, which is going to make her tough to beat.

Her third round clash will be with another player on the comeback trail, former Australian Open finalist Jennifer Brady 🇺🇸 .

Let the fairytale continue 👸 

Shot Clock 🎾⏰

Aryna Sabalenka was snubbed again at the net in more handshake drama. Belgian Maryna Zanevska 🇧🇪 refused to shake Sabalenkas hand 🤝 at the end of the match as she was born in Ukraine 🇺🇦 

Dominic Stricker 🇨🇭 goes viral for singing before winning against Tsitsipas. Serving for the match, Stricker enjoyed the break with a disarming calm, singing along to Whitney Houston’s ‘I want to dance with somebody’ 😂 

Serena Williams 🐐 shares pics of her daughter's luxury bedroom. The nursery was custom designed for baby Adira, not knowing the gender or name at the time by By Selina 😲 

Mike Tyson 🥊 shared his favourite tennis player to watch. No surprises. Djokovic. The former heavyweight boxing champion was in the stands to watch Coco Gauff 🇺🇸 

World no. 3 Jessica Pegula claims the Challenger tour is harder than the WTA. Pegula was asked during the press talk about which tour is harder to compete in and she expressed in detail how the Challengers Tour is a real grind for players. It’s a little easier when you family has a billion dollars though Jess 😉 

The Mental Game 🧠 

On the eve of the US Open, Carlos Alcaraz 🇪🇸 was asked about what he would take from Novak Djokovic’s 🇷🇸 game, his response?

“He’s a mental rock” 🪨 

Ever heard the saying 10% physical, 90% mental? Well, its amazing how true that is. A player can have all the strokes, but if he doesn’t have it up top, they can only go so far.

So, if you want to take your game to the next level and become the mental rock everybody fears, then it’s about time to work on your mental toughness.

HEAD tennis has put together a free how to guide with professional player input on how to train your brain to develop a strong mental game 💪 .

Check it out in the link here.

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