Scenes from Queens, Day 4: Tiafoe plays great late; Swiatek tops Stephens in Ashe debut; Brooksby ousts Cincinnati champ Coric; more US Open

No Limit NYC: Shots With Rublev, Cooking With Kyrgios & Osaka

A big opening for Tiafoe

NEW YORK—There are two kinds of tennis players in this world: Those who underperform in their home Grand Slams (I’m looking at you, Sam Stosur) and those who successfully block out the pressure and rise to the occasion when their compatriots are watching.

Frances Tiafoe is establishing himself in the latter category. He continued to build on that tendency in his second-round match on the Grandstand at the US Open on Thursday evening, overcoming some potentially costly lapses to defeat Australian challenger Jason Kubler, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (2).

Every major draw contains a few mysterious players like Kubler, who are very capable but get lost in the shuffle on the pro tour. He's a very capable 29-year-old who is a former junior World No. 1, but he’s been unable to get much traction on the pro tour until this spring, mainly because of a string of knee surgeries. Tiafoe did well to master him in an entertaining clash full of big cuts, heavy serves, and abrupt shifts of momentum, Tiafoe just managing to keep his nose out front most of the way.

The match turned abruptly and finally at 5-6 in the second set, Kubler serving. After squandering a set point with a poor service return with Kubler serving at 3-5, Tiafoe worked his way to a second set-point four games later. Kubler missed his first serve and, although he nailed his second, Tiafoe stepped in with his backhand—his money shot—and sent the return screaming back down the line for a winner. Kubler wasn’t even able to start for the ball.

Tiafoe likes the courts at the National Tennis Center, and the asphalt Deco-Turf sure likes his game. He’s the only American to advance to the fourth round of his native championships in back-to-back years (2020 and ‘21) since Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish both accomplished that a decade ago. In 2021, Tiafoe upset No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev to match that achievement.—Peter Bodo

Cornet Once Again Unearths A Win

NEW YORK—Imagine a tennis match as a mining expedition, a journey into unknown territory for minerals.

Surely, you’d want to be accompanied by Alizé Cornet. Pick, axe, shovel, torch, lamps, floss. She would deploy every tool as she probed, scraped and scratched through the shaft’s nooks and crannies.

Tuesday, inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, Cornet struck gold when she beat defending US Open champion Emma Raducanu. Today, another gem. On the Grandstand, amid temperatures in the 80s and windy conditions, the 40th-ranked Cornet beat world number 83 Katerina Siniakova, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

Thoroughly dominant in the first set, Cornet served in the second set at 1-2, 40-15—and then plummeted, losing 16 of the next 17 points. Three games into the third, Siniakova about to serve at 1-2, a weary Cornet took an injury timeout and was briefly draped with ice bags.

Once cooled off, Cornet resumed the mission—toothpick by toothpick. Three slice forehands in the same rally? Why not? In the same point, one dipped pass, followed by a lob, concluded by a scorching backhand down the line winner. All of it increasingly annoyed Siniakova, a fine player herself, but all too linear and unable to field Cornet’s broadly disruptive array.

Serving for the match at 5-3, Cornet’s use of the drop shot on each of the first two points helped her go up 30-love and close it out on her first match point.

You won’t hear many teaching pros talk about Cornet. Maybe they should. —Joel Drucker

Drama on Court 5: The Andrey Rublev Experience

NEW YORK—Thirty minutes before Andrey Rublev’s match against Kwon Soonwoo, a couple of fans were already finding their seats on Court 5.

They’ve learned from experience: when the No. 9 seed was put on this small court on Tuesday, it was a standing room only affair as what should have been a straight-forward win ended up going five sets. Fans had to stand on top of the bleachers on Courts 4 and 6 to catch a glimpse of him.

The Russian is an emotional player, the type who lives and dies for every point. And he brings his fans along for the drama—even when his frustration turns inward. As one early-bird tells me: “Any match where Andrey doesn’t hit himself, or make himself bleed, would be considered a win.”

Soon the stands start to fill up, and Rublev’s all-Spanish team—coach Fernando Vicente, physio Marc Boada and Galo Blanco, co-owner of 4Slam Academy where Rublev trains in Barcelona—take their seats. Vicente and Boada soon take their shoes off—Boada ditches his socks, too—much to the horror of the mostly South Korean contingent in their row. One young fan sneaks a photo and shows it to his friend, both of them giggling.

Even a straight-sets Rublev victory is a mini-drama unto itself, with each of his rocket forehands punctuated by surprised gasps and reverent hisses from the crowd. After routing Kwon in the second set, things started to get complicated in the third as he threatened a comeback. When Kwon blasted a cross-court winner past Rublev, the Russian stared at his team, eyes wide and imploring, and they encouraged him in Spanish.

He almost bubbled over, grabbing his racquet more than once after an unforced error and cocking his fist as if to punch it, but held himself back each time. His team stays mostly silent, and I think of that fan from earlier, watching somewhere in the stands. But this time, she and Rublev both get their wins.

The No. 9 seed closed out Kwon 6-3, 6-0, 6-4, and immediately sets out to sign every single autograph and take every single selfie for the ones on Court 5 who stuck with him until the end.

Into the third round, Rublev awaits the winner of No. 19 seed Denis Shapovalov and Roberto Carballes Baena.—Stephanie Livaudais

Brooksby masters Cincy champ Coric

NEW YORK—Borna Coric knows a lot about pain. In 2016, he underwent knee surgery. Five years later, a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery kept him away from competition for 12 months. But last month, Coric made a grand comeback to win the Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati’s Masters 1000 event. In the wake of that title effort, Coric’s ranking soared from 152 to 29.

But today, the 25th-seeded Croat suffered a different kind of pain: The deceptive yet inspired court management savvy of Jenson Brooksby, who won this second round match, 6-4, 7-6 (10), 6-1. From his unrushed movements to an enchanting ability to redirect balls into compromising places, Brooksby belies the notion that contemporary tennis is all about physicality. Today he wove a spider’s web around Coric, extracting 67 unforced errors, nearly twice Brooksby’s tally of 34.

The match tilted in the late stages of the second set. Fighting off seven set points, Brooksby eventually prevailed when Coric steered a crosscourt forehand wide. From there, it was all too much for Coric. Brooksby was also unquestionably better-equipped, emotionally and tactically, to grapple with the swirling wind. It’s remarkable indeed how some of the same difficulties that affect us recreational players—squandering set points, blustery conditions—can even derail the pros.—Joel Drucker

Iga Could Get Used to This Place

NEW YORK—Iga Swiatek had fantasized as a child about playing on Arthur Ashe Stadium. But it took her winning two Grand Slam titles and bagging the No. 1 ranking before she finally got her shot on Thursday. She made the most of the opportunity, too, rolling to a 6-3, 6-2 second-round win on over 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens.

“Honestly, I have the same kind of motivation as I have on any court,” said the Polish star in her on-court interview. And why not? She’s already more than familiar with competing on the game’s greatest tennis venues. “But I did dream about this as a kid.”

There’s no single word that neatly describes Swiatek’s style, but relentless will do in a pinch to summarize her aggressive baseline game and vigor. Swiatek generates excellent racquet-head speed, and uses it to fire precise, deep groundstrokes that are evocative of vintage Monica Seles. She also has a great facility for redirecting rallies to destroy any comfort zone her opponent seeks in patterned play.

Stephens looked listless and resigned through much of this match, even though the match-up on paper was intriguing. Stephens may not be as conspicuously energetic as Swiatek, but she’s deceptively quick, her forehand has serious sting, and she has excellent counter-punching instincts.

We saw only brief flashes of those gifts in this encounter. Swiatek won 77 percent of her first serve points to just 56 percent by Stephens, which wasted any advantage the loser had with her solid 68 percent first-serve conversion rate (36 for 53). Swiatek smacked twice as many winners (14-7) and made made one fewer unforced error (17-18).—Peter Bodo