US Open Recap: Paolini, Andreescu Extend Rivalry as Tsitsipas Pushes Forward

Follow live coverage of day four of the 2024 US Open

Welcome to the US Open briefing, where The Athletics will tell the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.

On the second day of the 2024 US Open, a derby full of consecutive losses was played, the Grand Slam rivalry was a fact and the chance to win the tournament was a certainty.

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Who is the unluckiest loser?

Tuesday’s match between China’s Zhang Shuai and America’s Ashlyn Krueger was like the polar opposite of an unwavering force meeting an unstoppable object.

It pitted Zhang, who had lost 22 matches, against Krueger, who had lost all six of her Grand Slam major tournaments. Something had to give and eventually it was Krueger who stopped her unwanted run by coming back from a bagel to record a 0-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory.

The result means Zhang has to deal with 23 consecutive defeats, which is much more than the previous WTA record of 18 and also better than the ATP record of 21, which was held by Vince Spadea.

Zhang Shuai still looking for a first win in 2024 (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Zhang last won her match in January 2023 at the Lyon Open, when she was ranked in the world’s top 25. Since then, it has been a devastating collapse for a player who spent six months out of the sport at the end of last year and until 2024 in an attempt to recharge and stop the decline.

After losing this final match, she and Krueger shared a warm embrace at the net. Krueger knows in some ways what Zhang has been through, but her bad run seems like nothing compared to what her opponent is going through.

Charlie Eccleshare

Where will Paolini and Andreescu go after the Grand Slam rivalry?

Same matchup. Same result.

On Tuesday night, Jasmine Paolini and Bianca Andreescu met for the third consecutive Grand Slam in 2024. Paolini emerged victorious in this year’s third Grand Slam race, beating Andreescu 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and 48 minutes.

“It’s tough to play her in the first round,” Paolini said. “She won here. She’s a really great player.

“I think she played a really good match today. Both of us, it was a battle, almost three hours.”

All three matches featured long rallies and gruelling games, with both players overcoming deficits in their matches. Look no further than Paolini, who rallied after losing an 80-minute first set to win five games in a row.

Watch highlights from all three matches and you’ll see some great shotmaking. On Tuesday, the exclamation point was Paolini’s emphatic forehand return at 4-4 in the third set on break point to take a 5-4 lead and ultimately secure the match.

The previous two times Paolini defeated Andreescu at slams, she reached the final. At Roland Garros it was her first Grand Slam final. At Wimbledon it cemented her position as one of the best players in women’s tennis, with a career high of No. 4 in the world rankings.

For Andreescu, it’s a different match from what could have been. Early in the third set, she seemed to step awkwardly on her left leg. It resulted in Andreescu calling the physiotherapist a few times and walking cautiously for the rest of the match.

She did fight in the third set, but it wasn’t enough. Since winning the US Open in 2019, Andreescu has had to withdraw from matches or take extended breaks due to injuries. Tuesday was another example of Andreescu showing flashes of brilliance, but they were dampened by physical ailments.

At the net, the two embraced. Paolini said afterward that Andreescu told her that she “played well and that she hoped to win next time.”

“I told her, ‘I hope not,’” Paolini said with a laugh.

Hopefully these three matches at Grand Slams are a harbinger of more epic battles to come.

Lucas Weese

Will Stefanos Tsitsipas ever feel comfortable in New York City?

Stefanos Tsitsipas has always said he loves New York. It just doesn’t love him.

The Greek, who reached the finals of Grand Slams in Paris and Melbourne, has now missed the second week in New York seven out of seven times. For the third time in six years, he lost in the first round on Tuesday, against Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia, who beat him 7-6(5) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Afterward, Tsitsipas said the loss felt bigger than just any defeat in a tennis match.

“I’m nothing compared to the player I was,” he said. “I remember playing when I was younger, with the adrenaline on the pitch and the feeling that my life depended on the match.

These things have kind of… I feel like they’ve faded away.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas also looks for solutions in a difficult year (Luke Hales/Getty Images)

He is pushed and does not react. He walks onto the field and wants to feel joy, but does not find it. “I have to reproduce the hunger I had then,” he said.

The problem? He just doesn’t know how.

Is it a burnout? Maybe, he said, but more of a prolonged burnout because it’s been a year or two since he felt the way he used to feel and played the consistent tennis he used to play. It doesn’t help that in that time a new generation of players has replaced him as the sport’s heirs to the throne.

The time when he was who he is now seems long ago.

Matt Futterman

One-surface specialist enters new territory

During Monday’s US Open briefing, Maria Sakkari was a guest. She is highly regarded despite her continued poor performance at the Grand Slams.

Now it is the poor performances of a player on certain surfaces that are being scrutinized. In fact, on all surfaces.

Argentina’s Mariano Navone, now ranked No. 36 (and a few months ago No. 29), defeated the Germans Daniel Altmaier in four sets on Tuesday. Nothing special, except that this was Navone’s first Tour-level victory on a surface other than clay. He reached the world’s top 30 without ever having won an ATP match on a hard or grass court.

Instinctively this feels wrong. It’s fine to collect points on one surface, but to be able to get so high with zero pedigree on the other surfaces feels like an oddity.

But as always, these are just the quirks that exist within the tennis ranking system. Navone will face Britain’s Dan Evans on Thursday as he hopes to double his number of Tour-level non-clay victories.

Charlie Eccleshare

Photo of the day

Karolina Muchova delivers ridiculous scenes on a beautiful Tuesday morning.

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(Top photo of Bianca Andreescu and Jasmine Paolini: Sarah Stier/Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)