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On the hottest day of the US Open, two Canadian kids survive to play another day
NEW YORK – Who said Canadians can't handle heat and humidity?
They had their struggles, but a pair of 16-year-olds are into the quarter-finals of the boys' and girls' singles at the US Open after both defeated opponents who had gotten the better of them when last they met, just weeks ago.
Montreal's Félix Auger-Aliassime defeated a rather dramatic Russian-Spanish kid named Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-6 (6), saving a set point in the second-set tiebreaker during a match that was broadcast back home in Canada on TSN.
As Auger-Aliassime was wrapping it up on Court 17, Mississauga's Bianca Andreescu found herself in a hole, down a set and 2-5 in the second set of a match that began at exactly the same time.
It took awhile, and Andreescu had issues with a cramp in her left calf. But she managed to get past American Usue Arconada 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to advance to the final eight on the girls' side.
Here's what Andreescu's match looked like.
It was so stifling Thursday in New York that the 10-minute heat rule was in effect for both the boys and girls to take advantage after the second set, if they chose.
In the semi-finals of the warmup tournament in Repentigny, Que. last week, Auger-Aliassime was two points away from winning it in straight sets against Davidovich Fokina, who finally prevailed 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
"Last week I got on court and was a little impatient, a little nervous. Mentally I wasn't solid enough. Had I been the way I was all week here, I probably would have gotten through," said Auger-Aliassime, who will play American qualifier Patrick Kypson, also 16, again on Court 17 Friday at noon. "Last week, that's what he did well. Maybe today he thought it might go easily, because he's on a good run and he's confident. Maybe he just had trouble accepting making errors."
Auger-Aliassime said the conditions were already getting to him halfway through the first set, and he dealt with the reality that there might be as many as 2 1/2 more sets to go. "I was mentally solid despite conditions that were extremely difficult. We both felt tired, and that encouraged me, I said, 'He's tired too, so I have to continue to push him until he cracks,' " he said.
Auger-Aliassime couldn't help but notice all the dramatics that were going on on the other side of the court. In sharp contrast, the Canadian was exceptionally composed – especially considering the heat. He seems to have made several leaps since losing his Wimbledon junior semi-final singles match to Alex de Minaur two months ago, both in endurance and demeanour.
Davidovich Fokina might want to take a page out of that book. He had some serious drama going on.
Andreescu started off on the wrong foot against Arconada, who defeated her easily in the Wimbledon juniors in July when she was just coming off a six-month injury layoff.
Broken in the first game, she whacked her left shin with her racquet and it started to bleed. After a few points in the second game, the chair umpire instructed her to get treatment on it; it's called – can you believe it? – a "bleeding timeout".
It began with a Band-Aid, but the blood kept coming (it was the tiniest wound imaginable considering what came out of it), so it had to be re-wrapped. Later, she suffered cramps in that same leg, and the trainer came out a couple of times to rub an icepack on the troublesome area. It didn't look like fun.
Andreescu was up 5-3 and serving for the first set – and ended up losing nine of the next 11 games to put herself in a serious hole. There was some whimpering about the conditions, and the 16-year-old was being her own worst enemy considering her opponent was dealing with those same conditions.
But with some very considerate help from her Arconada, Andreescu managed to climb out of the abyss. She won eight games in a row to take a 3-0 lead in the third, allowed Arconada to tie it up again at 3-3, and finally pulled away for the win.
Wisely, she and doubles partner Katie Swan (who is already out of the singles) gave their opponents a walkover in the doubles.
After trying to recover as well as he could, Auger-Aliassime decided to go out and play his quarter-final doubles match with countryman and national centre training partner Ben Sigouin. They had little trouble defeating the French team of Elliot Benchetrit and Geoffrey Blancaneaux 6-4, 6-2.
Blancaneaux was the one who saved three match points and defeated Auger-Aliassime in the French Open boys singles junior final in early June.
"I had some cramps after the singles. But sometimes maybe we don't know our bodies that well. I got on court, I was motivated, I felt good. I'm happy that we won it," Auger-Aliassime said.
Andreescu, who is seeded No. 7, will face lucky loser Vanessa Ong in her quarter-final, which will be played on the big, new Grandstand court at the same time as Auger-Aliassime's match.
Auger-Aliassime and Sigouin will face the unseeded Japanese duo of Toru Horie and Yuta Shimizu later in the day.
