Zverev survives near upset from American wild card.
WHAT HAPPENED: Think of it: its your US Open debut and second professional match. The veteran across the net comes at you having earned a career-high 21 wins in 2017 and can count a Grand Slam victory over one-time Open winner and former world No. 1 Andy Murray to his credit.
If the circumstances or fans standing on tip-toe at Court 12 hoping to see an American pull off an upset at all flummoxed wild card Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, it wasn’t apparent early in his match against No. 23 Mischa Zverev. And it wasn’t apparent late in the match, either – until the 22-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., had been up 5-3 in the fourth set, on the verge of taking the match. Instead, he found himself needing to serve to stay in the set at 5-6. An easy volley miss and another error gave Zverev the set and the Russian survived to eke out the five-set win, 7-6, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
While perhaps a bit crestfallen, Kwiatkowski, the University of Virginia product who earned his wild card by winning the NCAA singles tournament, didnÂ’t disappoint fans in extending the match the distance and turning ZverevÂ’s methodical, looping groundstrokes and serve-and-volley game into an entertaining chess match. The high point of the outing came after he ripped a forehand passing shot to save the one of five match points: a fist pump wasn't enough as the crowd bellowed. so the upstart dropped to the ground and gave them a few emphatic pushups.
The almost three-and-a-half-hour contest was close throughout. After narrowly losing the first set in a tiebreak, Kwiatkowski had willfully forged through the left-handerÂ’s quirky serve-and-volley game to take the second and third sets after he seemed to get a beat on how to find room to pass Zverev. In fact, Kwiatkowski often borrowed from the vet's playbook late in the match, moving into the net and cutting off angles with sharp volley winners. In the end, though, it was Zverev who found just a little distance on a few key points to get the win.
WHY IT MATTERS: After playing a nearly impeccable first set, Zverev, the 30-year-old German - whose younger brother, Alexander, is a trendy favorite to win this US Open – managed to show his experience and workmanlike game to eke out the win. But the result, while surely disappointing for Kwiatkowski, wasn’t all bad: he showed he belongs in a Grand Slam as he seeks a permanent spot on the tour.
MATCH POINT: Zverev might get used to five-set matches: he rallied from two sets down at the Australian Open to defeat John Isner 9-7 in the fifth set after four hours and 10 minutes.
back off +9.5 games for King. Ugh. Pissed. With Zverev the issue is consistency - he's not mature. King is 1-2 levels below him. Zverev SOMEHOW managed to keep this match close. I stopped watchign after the 1st set, too sickening
