US Open 2012 daily report: Robson does it again
The major stories from the fourth day of the 2012 US Open at Flushing Meadows, New York...
This year’s US Open may be bringing the end of two great champions in Kim Clijsters and Andy Roddick, but there is no doubt that it has shone a great big white light on a future star, Laura Robson completing her second major upset with a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2 win over Li Na. The 18-year-old Brit has long been thought of as a bright prospect, ever since she won the girls’ singles at Wimbledon at the age of 14. But this week in New York has seen her step up to an entirely different level, her ability to compete with hard hitters from the back of the court so much improved, coupled with a calm confidence that has prevented any crumbling.
Her first match, although heavily hers on paper, against Samantha Crawford, was no breeze, and she improved again to beat Clijsters. But her level against Li was further advanced.
She has gone ahead against big players before, pushing Sharapova to a tie-break at the Olympics, but the way she recovered from losing the second set to Li, blistering through the third, was the most impressive feature of her display.
“In that match [against Sharapova] I definitely felt like I should have won the first set,” Robson said. “It was extremely close and then I just made a few silly mistakes and didn’t move my feet as much as I should have. So what I have been working on since then is making sure that I do move my feet, and just continuously make one extra ball and make it a little bit harder for them, which is what I did well against Clijsters and I seemed to do it quite well today.”
Having broken to begin the match 2-0, and then redeeming it, Robson was broken again while serving for the set. But broke straight back. Neck and neck throughout the second set, it was Li that sneaked the second set 7-5 in the tie-break, a forehand bouncing up into Robson’s racket frame as it clipped the line. There were those that thought that that would be it. Robson wouldn’t have the mental strength and experience, or fitness, to compete with a Grand Slam champion in a third set, especially given the sweltering conditions. But Robson did more than compete. She owned it. After innumerable break points at 2-2 in the third set, the Brit’s patience was rewarded, she held serve to love, and then never looked back. Breaking again, her confidence and belief funnelling into her groundstrokes, she served out and took the win on her first match point.
“My game is based on being aggressive, and if I don’t play that way then I probably wouldn’t be doing very well,” Robson said. “I just try to go for all my shots. And even today my first serve percentage wasn’t great, but I knew I had to keep going for it, and that’s what I did.”
Her first win over a top 10 player, she also becomes the first British woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles tournament since Sam Smith in 1998.
“I have always thought that I can play with the top girls,” Robson said. “Whenever I’ve practice with Caroline or Maria, I’ve always felt that the level was there. It was just taking that onto the match court and keeping the level up for the whole match. That’s what I have worked on. That’s been the biggest difference.”
It was a disappointing result for Li, who had come off the back of winning Cincinnati and reaching the Montreal final too.
“I think I was making a lot of mistake in whole match, so of course give a lot of free point for her,” Li said. “I have to take free days off. I can’t go back to tennis court tomorrow. I mean, this should be killing me.”
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Next for Robson is defending champion Sam Stosur, who moved to a 10-match-winning streak at Flushing Meadows, with a tight but efficient 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Varvara Lepchenko to reach the fourth round. She performed the Stosur shuffle again. Once is a one-off, twice is becoming a habit. Will three times make it a thing?
She admitted she was well aware of the threat posed by the young Brit.
“For sure it can be a very tricky match,” Stosur said. “She’s probably got nothing to lose. She’s had two of probably the best wins of her career, and she’s starting to maybe live up to the some of that potential that people have talked about from when she won junior Wimbledon when she was 14.
“You can’t go into it lightly. You’ve got to be aware that she’s going to come out swinging maybe and have that confidence behind her, but you’ve got to stick to your own guns, play the way that you need to play. When it comes down to the crunch, back yourself.”
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Those waiting for Andy Roddick’s farewell will have to wait a little longer. The 2003 champion was imperious in his 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 defeat of Bernard Tomic on Arthur Ashe, serving like a 20-year-old rather than a 30-year-old.
"I'm gonna try to stick around a little longer, he said, having confessed that pre-match he didn’t feel relaxed at all.
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Marion Bartoli became the first player into the fourth round with a straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Kristina Mladenovic, but David Ferrer made life a little hard for himself, taking six match points to see off Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(12). Sijsling lobbed delightfully to bring up set point at 12-11, only to double fault. Ferrer then lobbed back, and won the match.
Juan Martin Del Potro didn’t have quite the battle some envisaged, coming through 6-2, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 against Ryan Harrison, Nadia Petrova crunched Lucie Safarova 6-4, 7-5, and Alexandr Dolgopolov and Marcos Baghdatis contested an entertaining rumble, the Ukrainian winning .
Maria Sharapova continued to show some screechingly-good form to beat Mallory Burdette 6-1, 6-1, but fellow NCAA-er Steve Johnson kept the US college flag flying, beating Ernests Gulbis to make the third round. Petra Kvitova continued her best-ever run in North America, beating Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4, while Richard Gasquet sent home another American, Bradley Klahn, in three sets.
Lleyton Hewitt proved that determination can still go a long way with his five-set win over Gilles Muller, the Aussie hauling his elderly body around the court in an uproarious atmosphere in Court 11, and John Isner survived four sets against Jarkko Nieminen.
In the doubles, while Wimbledon champs Freddie Nielsen and Jonny Marray were sent packing, the Bryan brothers and Williams sisters completed easy wins, as did Kim Clijsters and Bob Bryan in their first round mixed doubles. They even chest-bumped.
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There were plenty of little people running around on court today, the junior qualifying matches in action before the junior tournament proper begins on Sunday.
GB’s Evan Hoyt, the fourth seed, was the only Brit in action today, winning his first round match against Naoki Nakagawa of Japan in three sets. Also in action was the brilliantly named Tornado Alicia Black, whose sister is named Hurricane.
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Around the grounds
Americans are well known for their friendliness and welcoming attitude…which is why the grounds of Flushing Meadows are full of people in straw hats and green tops, simply bidding you ‘have a nice day.’ Cue a whole group of them lining up to high five people when they are leaving. Some fans took to it with enthusiasm, others... didn’t. What would you do?
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Coming up tomorrow
Arthur Ashe
Jelena Jankovic v Agnieszka Radwanska, Ekaterina Makarova v Serena Williams, Roger Federer v Fernando Verdasco during the day, Sloane Stephens v Ana Ivanovic, Mardy Fish v Gilles Simon at night.
Louis Armstrong
Dominika Cibulkova v Roberta Vinci, Andy Murray v Feliciano Lopez, Angelique Kerber v Olga Govortsova, Tomas Berdych v Sam Querrey.
Grandstand
Nicolas Almagro v Jack Sock, Maria Kirilenko v Andrea Hlavackova, James Blake v Milos Raonic, Kim Clijsters and Bob Bryan.
Court 17
Marin Cilic v Kei Nishikori, Sara Errani
Other notables
The Harrison brothers on Court 11, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins on Court 11, Dominic Inglot and Treat Huey on Court 4, Evan Hoy on Court P11.
For full scores, draws and results, and videos from Flushing Meadows, check out the US Open official website.
