Other than Alexander Zverev , who was two points away from going out in round one, the top quarter of the U.S. Open bracket is in shambles.
Zverev is the only top-20 seed still alive in his section. In the other half of the German’s quarter, these are the four remaining players: Botic van de Zandschulp, Zizou Bergs, Michael Zheng, and Arthur Gea. One of them will reach the quarterfinals at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Van de Zandschulp was responsible for the most recent upset, as he sent No. 6 seed Alex de Minaur packing 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 on Thursday. Bergs defeated Jesper de Jong, Michael Zheng ended the run of lucky loser Bu Yunchaokete, and Gea beat Zachary Svajda. Bu had previously shocked 12th seed Rafael Jodar in the first round. Casper Ruud had been in this section, as well, but his withdrawal gave Gea a LL spot.
Whoever advances to the semifinals out of the Zverev quarter could end up meeting Taylor Fritz, a former U.S. Open runner-up (2024) who is on a roll so far this fortnight. The 10th-ranked American crushed Darwin Blanch 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in round one and then humiliated Mattia Bellucci 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday.
“I thought I played really well today,” Fritz assured. “I came out, felt good from the beginning. Things were clicking for me, and I was very focused the whole match. It was a very high level for me…. I would nitpick a lot to come up with anything that I did wrong, because I felt like all the important parts of my game that make me feel like I’m playing good tennis and feel confident…it was all working for me.
“I feel great. I think it is really important to not kill yourself in the first couple of matches, because you need to have the energy to potentially do that later on in the week. At the end of the day, you do get a day off, but anyone will tell you one day is not enough to recover from a five-set match. It’s just not. You can come back and still play good, but it’s not enough to fully recover. It’s good to get through these the way that I’ve gotten through these. It definitely gives me a lot of confidence.”
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.