Del Potro beats Isner
The heat at the Arthur Ashe stadium yesterday made it very difficult to play tennis, so much so that Juan Martin del Potro revealed that he didn’t want to come back out after his third set. It is a good job that he did though, as he made his way into the semi-finals by beating John Isner 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
To make things even harder for Del Potro, not only was he playing in the searing heat but he was also facing the home fans’ favourite, John Isner. Yet somehow the No.3 seed battled his way to victory. In his post-match interview, he stated how seeing Isner get tired gave him a boost.
US Open 2018 Odds
He now plays Nadal on Friday in the tournament that saw him achieve his sole Grand Slam title back in 2009. It is a repeat of last year’s semi-final fixture where Nadal beat him in four sets and went on to win the US Open. Del Potro will be hoping that history does not repeat itself in the match.
Nadal beats Thiem
Current world No. 1 Nadal went into the match as the clear favourite so nobody expected what happened in the first set. Thiem shut Nadal out of the first set to win 6-0, which has only ever happened to Nadal three times in his previous 281 Grand Slam matches.
Fortunately for him this time, he was able to regain composure to win the match but not without being made to work for it.
The match score says it all: 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7, 7-6. The last three sets were intensified by the temperatures and it took just under five hours for Nadal to clinch the win. Thiem will be ruing his chances and afterwards, he commented: “It’s cruel. The first really epic match I’ve played.”