Van de Zandschulp, Fernandez on surprising runs
The fact that Botic van de Zandschulp was playing in Louis Armstrong Stadium for the first time for his 4-hour, 20-minute, will-he-or-won’t-he-blowit victory was an incredible enough achievement for the Dutch qualifier.
Throw in this: Van de Zandschulp had never set foot in the U.S. before he arrived for the U.S. Open.
Now, van de Zandschulp has another first of epic proportions. He’s in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows — just the third male qualifier to get that far in the Open era.
“I think before the tournament, no one expected me to reach the quarterfinals here,” he said.
Van de Zandschulp continued his out-of-nowhere run, beating No. 11 Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 on Sunday.
The U.S. Open had already been filled with upstarts and upsets. Defending champion Naomi Osaka and No. 1 women’s seed Ash Barty are done. So are men’s No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 5 Andrey Rublev.
Van de Zandschulp was part of a trio of U.S. Open qualifiers that reached the fourth round for the first time since the tournament began keeping qualifying records in 1982. He joined Nicolas Escude (1999) and Gilles Muller (2008) as just the third men’s qualifier to reach the quarterfinals since the Open era began in 1968.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez demonstrated that her upset of defending champion Naomi Osaka was no fluke by beating another past title winner.
With grit and guile, and a veteran’s poise in the face of a big deficit against a much more accomplished opponent, the unseeded Fernandez grabbed the last five games to beat 2016 champion Angelique Kerber
4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the fourth round.
As for van de Zandschulp, before the U.S. Open, the ninth-year pro had only five tour-level wins, was never ranked higher than 117 in the world and had never advanced past the second round in a Grand Slam tournament.
Look at him now, his U.S. Open streak an unqualified success for the
little-know qualifier.
“His tactic today was working perfectly,” Schwartzman said. “Maybe I had luck in the third and fourth to continue playing the match today because he was playing better than me.”
Van de Zandschulp should enjoy the run while he can. His next match is against No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, who cruised into the U.S. Open quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Daniel Evans on Sunday.
Medvedev has yet to drop a set on his way to the quarterfinals for the third straight year, and van de Zandschulp would be the third unseeded player he would face at Flushing Meadows. Evans was No. 24.
No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina beat two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. The Olympic bronze medalist, Svitolina has emerged as a contender at Flushing Meadows. She has not dropped a set in the tournament.
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Shelby Rogers rallied from down 5-2 in the third set to upset Barty 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 (5) at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the fourth round.
Rogers had been 0-6 lifetime against top-seeded players.
Rogers, the last American left in the women’s draw, was fantastic in the third, hitting backhand winners and using a 103 mph serve to fight her way back against the reigning Wimbledon champion.
Barty had not dropped a set in the tournament but was sloppy from the start. She made 17 unforced errors in the first set and then three more when she held a 5-2 lead in the third that let Rogers back in.
As they are for most Americans, the Ashe crowd roared for Rogers on every winner, and she waved her arms and exhorted the fans to get louder. The 28-year-old Rogers broke Barty twice in the third when Barty served for the match.
Rogers thinks that played a role in her upset of No. 1 Ash Barty, too.
“The crowd is next-level this year,” Rogers told the fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium after rallying from 5-2 down in the third set to top Barty. “You’ve picked who you want to win, so thank you for picking me tonight.”