2026 US Open Day 4 Recap

0:00Our Crack Crackets team is proud to partner with our friends at the Laurel Springs School. Imagine a school day that doesn't start with the ringing of a bell, but instead the rhythmic bounces of a tennis ball and the crisp pop of a perfect serve. That's the sort of opportunity offered by the Laurel Springs School. Laurel Springs, they understand how difficult it can be for any aspiring athlete to balance their daily training. We can travel competitions and their academics. That is why they offer a 100% flexible online private education that molds to fit any and every athlete's lifestyle and aspirations. Enrolling at Laurel Springs means every new sunrise is a chance for your child to thrive both academically and on the court by enrolling at Laurel Springs.

1:01You're not only empowering your child with a premium personalized education, you're also enabling them to thrive. In both their academic and athletic pursuits, start the school year off right and visit Laurel Springs.com today. To learn more, you can join them for an upcoming virtual open house and learn more about every program, every resource they offer. Again, go to Laurel Springs.com to start your school year off right. Laurel Springs, a proud partner of crack-gracks. To the mini book, your date podcast for the biggest story of our results and our first from the next world games, third days and ten for third day full of the 2026 US Open. Now, officially in the books we of course kicked off round two singles play in both the

2:05men's and women's singles draw on today's podcast. Want to break down all of the intriguing round two results we saw on Fold on Wednesday. But where I have to start this recap podcast is with one of our final round one matches that of course was pushed onto Wednesday's calendar because of the rain, twelfth seated Rafa Hodar, a top eight, maybe top five contender for the title given the relative state of the field given the absence of sinners, certainly given the upset of no back joke of it's the upset of Arthur Fees in round number one already. He was climbing up that contender power rankings as we approached the start of Wednesday's play and yet the twelfth seated Hodar, who I would remind everyone is top ten in the points race right now. The 19 year old, pretty clearly your breakout star of 2026. He hands us his first head scratch and result of 2026. Hodar not only eliminated in the opening round, he drops a six to six one six one decision

3:08to big hit and Boo Young Chow Kete and look there is no podcast who will stand harder for the upside of the Boo man than me here on the mini break podcast feed. Go watch Boo play one match in person. His ability to strike the tennis ball is just different than even the best of the best in the field alongside of him when he is in rhythm, when he is confident. There is a sound that comes off of that racket, a pace he can generate with ease. Top ball belongs on the biggest stages that ball belongs competing against the best our sport has to offer. But two one in one against a guy who has been unimpeachably excellent, maybe the surest thing against lesser than him by ranking competition this season like two one in one, it was stunning and more than anything what was so surprising is that nothing seemed to be working. Or if you are not sure, the guy who right now you look at the tennis abstract stats leader board, he is fourth tied for third, excuse me, by break percentage on the season.

4:13Trails just marida and alcaraz but his 29.9% break percentage again, 30 is the demarcation line of best of the best ever like you are talking to doll, you are talking joke of it, you are talking alcaraz, peak center, those are the guys who clip that 30% mark. You might be good, you are rarely that good. Rafa is broke, serve 29.9% of the time in the two level matches, he has played the season against the boom man, zero. Let me say that again, zero break points. Bullost just six points behind the first serve, he lost just 15 points on serve overall, how many 14 plus 8 is 22, he played 11 service games, he lost 15 points on serve. Again, a credit to the boom man who was striking the ball brilliantly, who was so aggressive in that first strike and did what you have to do against Rafa at this stage of his career because as great as the wing span is, as much pace as he can generate if all he has to do is get his mits on the ball.

5:15And he's a good anticipate, I just don't think he's that quick yet, I don't think he's that sound in and out of corners in particular. And that's where Bu forced him to live throughout the course of this match, playing first strike, getting forward. How many of those 37 unforced heirs for Rafa Houdar was because he felt that pressure knowing that Bu was looking to take off and play big on every second, every third shot, every opportunity he had to hit with his feet set was an aggressive redirect into a corner somewhere. Bu executed well, but you just felt like in the face of that Rafa rushed through everything and frustration showing from Rafa throughout obviously as it was a match where he hit 15 winners against 37 unforced heirs and it certainly felt like that. It felt like the first three, four shots the error was going to come for Rafa played. I thought faster than he needed to now. It's a credit to Bu who sped him up. But again, Rafa, finding that 75% here, finding that ability to just work your way into

6:20a match before things really start to click on the forehandling before Bu's level slows down. He didn't find that gear in this match. He didn't allow himself a runway to just put returns in play with depth. I mean, he tried to do that for a little bit, but Bu was just teeing off on first forehand. And again, it's a credit to Bu who served lights out who executed the game plan flawlessly. But you didn't see Rafa change up his return positioning. Like he didn't try to take the ball earlier. I thought more than anything, you should have taken seven steps back and just be like, you know what, I'm just going to take a massive whack at this return of serve. And rather than just try and rush the ball back and take time away from you by beating you to the spot, like that return wasn't working. Maybe try just a different return position. But more than anything, the forehand was out of sorts and perhaps that's why he thought, no, that's not going to work for me because I can't find rhythm on the forehand. Zero break points is stunning for a guy who has been one of the five best returners on the tour this season and who does find ways to put returns in play with depth and hold

7:21his ground and rush anyone. Those returns just weren't landing with the requisite depth. And, you know, again, he was asked about it. Was he something under the weather physically? Was it a fatigue thing with all the matches and he has played over a hundred matches since turning pro last May? Like there's a lot of wear and tear on the 19 year olds body. He just didn't have it today. And I guess for someone so power-centric, you're going to throw in a stinker like this every once in a while when you just don't have that range. But what's so amazing is we just, we haven't seen a match like this from Rafa before. And I was there in college. Like I didn't see a match like this from him either. The matches he lost, like, or was competitive the way. Again, go watch him versus Timo Lague that pushed him to three sets. Like that match was just incredible tennis. Obviously, he loses the match against Stanford last season, but that was a default. That wasn't because he was playing particularly poorly, although wasn't playing particularly great either, and that frustration kind of leaked over. But again, when he gets frustrated, he hits himself out of match and finding a way to slow

8:23down the way Alcarez will slow down and just play a little higher and heavy. Sinner's the exception. Sinner doesn't slow down because Sinner doesn't need to slow down. Sinner just is fucking ruthless. It's just how is he going to beat you this day? He will be slow and steady pace in the corners or is he blitzing you because he's on another level today. Rafa still has to find that gear. Now guess what? Boyle R alert folks, if you're asking me to sell any Rafa Houdar positions, that's not happening today because it's so much easier. Ask Annie Coach. It is so much easier to have to coach someone to slow down than it is to try and manufacture a speed that you just don't know if someone's going to be capable of playing with. We know Rafa is capable of the speed and that, and if we coach you can say, well, okay, one, we got to speed up the movement. That's a physical, that's a controllable, that's work in the gym, that's a 19 year old growing into his body. And I do think the first step is, even if he's not the most fluid, has the instinct to get forward, has the instinct to knock off Follies. I think he's going to get better at doing that as well, learning a little bit better touch

9:24when moving forward. So it doesn't always have to be the drive. But I love that the drive is the inherent default for him when driving away that first Follie. But finding that 75% gear to where the sets don't look like this to one one. By the way, I'm not going to over react. It's one result. And what has otherwise been a guy who 19 years old was outside the top 100 and he's currently sitting ninth in the points race. It was striking. It was striking to see because look, Boo was great on the grass, hasn't had the greatest build up. He's been a little burnt out. Like I know the boom, Boo and people around his team can spend some time in the road with him and had the option to stick around, didn't took some time off after Lincoln, after playing so much during the grass and everything. And again, a lucky loser into the main draw. Boo, who of course had that career high of 64, is dealt with some injuries. The 24 year old is sitting at 113 right now in the live rankings. It's a massive victory for him and an opportunity now to work his way back into the top 100 with obviously the Asian swing coming up and you wonder, will he get wild cards into events in China just by virtue of again having some events at home soil.

10:29If he doesn't, certainly we'll want to be in the mix for qualifying and that much more easy by the way to just justify whatever it is you're offering to him with this sort of result and just builds up that confidence coming up to a stretch where again he finally gets to play at home so over the first time in the season. Look again, I said this yesterday, I tweeted this during Wednesday's action excuse me as well as to this on the yesterday show but now you just line it up again. No sinner at the event from the start. I'll get to how Carlos Alcarez looked and after that first set you felt doubly good about this tape and then he looked better and better and better concerning for the rest of the field but it's as vulnerable as Alcarez will ever be entering a major given he has not struck a ball since the spring. So no sinner the most possible and not saying Alcarez still won't be better than the field but you're never going to get him more vulnerable than this joke of itch out and round one canada excuse me since the night of champ Arthur feasts out and round one the breakout

11:32star of the season Rafa Houdar out in round number one no fun second he's out with injury as well. Zverev pushed a five sets in his opening match. I know we lost Brandon Nakashima today but it was two in American Alex Michelson the Cranbrook tennis classic champion shout out but I will say it again if an American man is ever going to win a major in this next 15 year stretch we'll say with sinner Alcarez Houdar fun second etc all as good as they already are and in particular if they're ever going to do it on home soil this is the one like if your Taylor Fritz especially the given he's in that top half of the draw with Zverev and Tiafo Paul all the others are in the bottom with Alcarez but for Taylor Fritz and Shelton that bottom half with Alcarez but if your Taylor Fritz in particular this is the one the draw has opened up for you the opportunity is there for him to at the very least push towards the final again he has been

12:33better than Zverev and their head to head for the last two years and now the opportunity to beat him on that stage to get back to that final should very well be there for him. The draw has opened up there's just no other way of looking at it and if not now I just don't know when there will be a better opportunity for the American men and so I still think through these first four days that is one of those themes that is just permeating through everything I am watching is just like okay there's another opportunity okay like Francis looked a lot better in his straight set victory today Tommy I know was pushed to force that against Prismage Prismage look good Tommy was still better this is the opportunity this is the moment for the American men and certainly anything short of a semi final one semi finalist anything short of that is just straight up disappointment Fritz getting to the finals the success who he faces in that final what that looks like will deal with those circumstances should they arise but someone's got to get to championship weekend

13:37the draw is too open and there are too many playing too well for them not to and now another top seed again you could argue four of the top six right in no center joke bitch eliminated fecin hodara eliminated like I don't know if you had fecin hodara as five and six but they are right there in the mix on any tier with Taylor Fritz with if Francis with a bend with how they were all playing entering this us open and two of those guys are now out of the mix four of those guys excuse me are out of the mix with center joke bitch those two out it's just I know I keep reiterating it but it is a theme that I am I'm just feeling at each moments as this major continues to unfold but that was the big round one storyline everything else ostipenko got eliminated as well not to write off that women's upset but name the relevant ostipenko result in 2026 I'll wait that was everything coming out of round one and to me that's the biggest story line still coming out of day number four is the opportunities there and a lot of these seeds

14:38are looking the part by the way right now and in particular gets me to storyline number two I mean the top women's seeds are just cruising and we had a bunch of women's seeds by the way pushed to three sets in Wednesdays action there round two battles in fact Svitalina, Alexandra of a Kalinskaya, Navarro, Anley all pushed to thirds all of them victorious in the round two battles Svitalina probably should have one in straight sets but my joint down a set and I want to say other four three or five four just kind of said fuck it and started playing with a pace that quite frankly I didn't know she had within her in the backhand line in particular she just said green light I'm swinging on everything and if I lose at least I'm losing on my turns and she just started landing everything started taking these massive wax from the baseline fights off a match point with a brilliant backhand line winner that again I didn't know she had in her couple of big sir like AST to fight off a match point on one of them in the second set my joint

15:39was awesome in this match and in fact showed me a different upside I didn't know she had boy that first set though was really intimidating off the rack of Alina Svitalina I thought she was gonna run my joint off out the gym and again it was a credit to Maya who raised her level you saw top 25 tennis within Maya certainly throughout the last set and a half in that battle Svitalina survived in the face of it again she's moving so well there's just more aggression from her from the baseline than ever before she gets through in three sets again Alexandra Ova winning a match in three sets like she's starting to get hot and when she's hitting line drive tennis she can beat anyone ask Arena Svabilanka in Canada Caland Sky of three sets of her Shinu and leave from a set down she was one of her better matches I've seen her play three sets over Donna Vakage to hold seed with that number 29 next to her name and then I'm a freaking Navarro man her versus Katie McNally was awesome tennis McNally just got the better of Navarro by sneaking in every time she got Navarro

16:43stretched every time she saw Navarro open up the grip and turn in particular to the backhand slice McNally snuck forward and Katie with a unique skill set to knock up those transition volleys in a way few other players men's or women's game are capable to do with that sort of consistency and I love that MMA the adjustment okay I'm just not gonna do that anymore like I'm not hitting that slice floating center if I'm hitting the slice I'm gonna try and go for that slice line winner hasn't worked since the 70s but it did work at times fire up the sky lob or I'm just gonna fucking hit through this ball and get dip something low at you force you to pop up that second ball and then take you with those two past combinations she did that ruthlessly efficiently down the course of sets two and three and just a little too much juice behind her first surface for him got better reads on the McNally serve as well just started hitting that return hitting through that return more by picking the spots better um but again all of those seats fiddling Alex Indrava counts guy Navarro Lee all through in three sets in fact other than

17:46osteophenco yet no women seats knocked out on Wednesday and you look sabbelanka there was no laps in concentration obviously the big story sabbelanka getting frustrated with a question from the athletics map of butterman who asked about the distractions of week one do they you know how do you block out those distractions now that play has started of course sabbelanka is irritable right now for the second straight season despite being number one covered a cover in it she hasn't one a major entering the years final major in the pressure that accumulates accordingly you're just gonna be on edge all of the best competitors would be i didn't hate i understood the premise from butterman even if i don't think he asked the question in the way he was intending to communicate but there were no questions for sabbelanka on the court one in one and it was the sort of fuck you i'm editing this point right now firepower that she can play with that no one else can match when she's at her best um yeah i a chinko was poorly positioned to even attempt to match it but she was one in one pagula's looked awesome through four sets of tennis three in one just blitz

18:50through sonia canning picture spots so well plus wonder to death and just kind of not enough juice from on her own serve to really hit pagula off of any spot it just feels like we are so thoroughly on a sabbelanka pagula collision course for the third consecutive year in new york um noscava slow starts but then once she finds her rhythm she's blitzing through people form one over terror rudy if you blinked you missed muhova's one and oh for bolter that match was like 45 minutes sabbelanka i think was 52 minutes like what are we talking about here two match these top seats are fucking cruising caustic one in five schneider one in six kerstea back informed two in five and what should be her final major we're not talking about that enough um palini even four and one hell even layla Fernandez four and one over so on kaya i mean hell even the other matches like towns in one one and one rakim over one three and oh all i'm saying is it is a blockbuster

19:54blockbuster set of round of six uh round of 32 matches in the top half of the drive and you look across the board the only ones you'd skip like i think there's only one you'd skip right sabbelanka versus uh versus rakim over all due respect to kamehra rakim over yes she got the victory of a trecicoga followed it up well with the three and a win over select miteva her backhand can absorb pace her serve is a hanging curveball for sabbelanka to tee off against him she's starting to tee off on some returns once again so you skip that one but towns in schneider battle of the left east towns and able to play aggressive tennis but schneider a little more goose still behind the ball still that's must watch caustic versus the big hitting alexandrova in brilliant ball striking of anly versus the line drive relentlessness of noscava in pagula Fernandez in palini versus kerstea again like jesson palini has been a top a play to the last two seasons this is kerstea's last dance

20:55to the other they both held seed 16 and 19 respectively uh respectively in spitalena versus calenskyah held seeds in navar over smuhova like again you've got six of your eight matchups we held seed the other one it features tailler towns in like we know how good she can be in new york in particular the lefty who plays with real firepower who knocked out lensky of course earlier in the tournament she's earned her spot again sabbelanka's gonna blitzrakumof in my opinion but sabbelanka you you know hasn't been a sure of a thing i suppose over these last couple of months but seven again six of eight are seedverse seed seven of eight no no description needed for how easily compelling they are in the eighth one features the two-time defending champion in arena sabbelanka is probably going to be one of the matches on arthur ash even if it's not needed for arthur ash on them but she's the two-time defending champion you get my point it's loaded and this is what we've been hoping for us again with

21:59the margins as thin as they've been at the top like again you you would lean a caustic over an aliexandrova but aliexandrova just beat sabbelanka so there's a reason to believe in that you'd certainly lean noscova over and lee tough to make the case for and lee you take pagul over for andas but that's the moment you do that is when lay the frananda's pounces and what didn't for andas beat pagul in dc not this season but the year before you can make cases for everyone is the point i'm trying to make and by the way can anyone slow down carolina mucava like nivaros played a couple of three-set matches on john mcnelli so maybe you say okay that one might just be a mucava blitzing but maybe not man amnavaro's made quarter finals here in york and vano varo's made semi-finals of a major before like we know nivaros knows how to navigate three sets and can pass well enough in the face she just got a taste of attacking tenison kady mcnelli played against a lot of backhand slice not a bad de facto look at what it's going to take to face off against a mucava game style even if i think there's more topspin and mcnelli's attacking a little more line drive centric for mucava

23:05there eight seven very good matches and then a rena sabbelanka but still it's a loaded round three that's just the top half of the draw we're still looking at a world where it's like answering a barton kava tell me some of a tag around two today is going to be fricking awesome but like you could have excuse me you could whom i think who's going to play keys it was the maddie keys match oh chinwen maddie keys round three this fiontech versus boze kava mertens versus osaka like rebaka inverse sockery were bringing back the early twenty twenty it's going to be a loaded round three and i think we're going to get the best first is the best which more than anything is what we need i need a pecking order slam to try and help me sort some things out in the women's game and all things are lining up towards exactly that here as we progress towards week number two of the years final major so it's going to be a loaded round three the top seeds are cruising on the women's side i mean like again other than we have five seats surviving three sets do you want me to do ten minutes

24:05on and lee and how i love how her kick serve forehand inside in combination works for her i love how sharp her edges are from the ground even if the second serve can be attackable so can everyone else's like i'm still a believer in wang shin you although she was a maker break all star probably leaning more towards break than make but we'll always have january um again i already gave you my thoughts on the my adjoined performance so that's everything really on the women's side more than anything else though it is going to be a loaded round three of women's results and then of course on the men's side uh we did have some monumental upsets on the day i mentioned the hodar one already but how about the fact that on the day we saw Alex michelson the cranbrook tennis classic champion six three six four six four knocks out brand to knock ushima that one was a little puzzling certainly given how well not kashima had played throughout the course and honestly you go and watch the match they were competitive sets man um three four and

25:09four i think only one of them featured a double break um there are two breaks have served within and i believe it was that opening uh no i think it was that second set where an akashima did manage to get a break on the board but it was everything you hoped Alex michelson will be at his best the serve the plus one the absorption of pace and beaten to the spot he anticipates so well and when you try and pressure his backhand wing his ability to absorb on that wing his ability to move that back hand around the court anywhere get outside the ball flattened out line play the slice play the drop shot uses his length so well moving forward plays the swinging ball you let him load on that big forehand very unpredictable where he's going to go with it was a little easier for him to pull the forehand cross and it was for Brandon and it just felt like Brandon wanted to play the inside out of forehand too frequently which is just pacing to michelson's backhand corner especially when he can anticipate it well that's going to be a problem for you i mean again like the match was close a lot of first serves a lot of plus one ten is michelson just had more ways of hurting Brandon

26:14in this match than vice versa and you know i saw the point like how big of an upset is this really well it is an upset even though these two had both been floating in that 28 to 42 range in the rankings for much of the last 12 months had been the case for the last two Brandon had separated himself and you do what he did over three consecutive events in DC Cincinnati Canada respectively like you've earned a degree of respect beating who he beat to beat affrits to beat a demon hour to earn real victories along the way like as good as michelson was in krambrook as funnest is final with fernley was in his high of the level as that was it wasn't a win like like the victories Brandon has had and yet neither of them have made a slam quarter final before like that always should have been looming in the back of our head as it was by the way when trying to make the case for how high should Brandon be as a top contender coming into this us open it just felt a little one i like here's the thing i thought Brandon returned well i thought he held his ground well i just

27:17thought it was a bad match up because Brandon wants to play that inside out forehand and it just was not gaining traction michelson had answers for always with his own backhand response and you know again accordingly um now it looks michelson manages to pull off the straight set upset and you look again that's two now in the joke the two maybe you gave them well again Brandon jokovic one one of mariana navona daniel marita aliex michelson or tomas martin natcheveri is making the round of sixteen uh now moving forward um one of those guys again marita michelson etcheveri navona one of them is making the round of sixteen in that jokovic section of the draw wouldn't have had that on my bingo card in fact did not have that on my bingo card massive opportunities now for both medvedev and teafo like if your teafo get back to the us open semi's if you're deniel medvedev you just got to get from the gods like the the draw has opened up for you

28:17way in a way it hasn't had a major in years like even to have learned or tn as you're round of sixteen opponent i think i'd rather have uh would you rather have this version of teafo or january's version of tn as you're round of sixteen opponent it tells of the who would be that quarter final opponent it's up just again for france it's more than anything especially as he escaped martin dom and round number one and now gets through and straights it's himself over sakamoto like you got you get out of jail free card in that first set two sets to one down facing a big serving lefty who you just don't have a lot of options within it you got yourself out of that jam i mean there's still medvedev looming but the opportunity is certainly there for france teapot to get himself back to another semi final in new york the draw could not have opened up more widely on the other half and yet in his section by the way all of our seeds medvedev rindra kinesh fascio teapo those are your round three battles there as well again michael sin knocking out knock ishima michael sin just smooth with it man he's very good at tennis it doesn't always

29:23look the most aesthetically pleasing but he is very good at tennis michael sin the three set straight set victory over knock ishima and then the aforementioned daniel marita man daniel marita's just found it there's no offense or buts about it he has been one of the breakout stars of this twenty twenty six season and for marita add another signature victory i suppose to the resumand the guy who quarterfinaled of course canada um one a couple of matches and sincey now he knocks out and re rubla six seven six two six four six four his four ends just a flick of the wrist like not a ton of backhand not a ton of backswing not too complicated just kind of flicks that ball up and it comes in high and heavy he's able to get outside the ball he's able to drive it line the backhand smooth there is some pace to that first serve as well moves very well asks a lot of good questions of opponents and again you look for marita in his six seven six two six four six four win over rubla was broken just once based only six break point chances in the match

30:30didn't come forward that frequently but that's not his game again just kind of maneuver deep behind that baseline so good at absorbing pace so good at playing with depth into the outer thirds as well that he'll sneak one behind you as well just again i don't know what he's great at but daniel marita is good at a lot of things in that forehand it's just it's different i kind of like it i like he doesn't load on it that heavily but it he has the requisite top spin the requisite action on that a tough loss for rubla especially after he survived the five set thriller and round number one but huge win for daniel marita just to continue to consolidate his rise here this summer by the way marita no surprise up to a new career high 38 still just 21 years old daniel marita's put himself in a very good spot as he moves forward and certainly again if in a season without how dark he may be your newcomer break out star of this most improved i should say of this 2026 season still those were your two ups that's on the day naka shima ruble of eliminated so far you've

31:32had seven seeds eliminated from the men's field five seeds eliminated from the women's and again no serious contenders another names you would have put on your even honorable mentions of title contenders for this us open women's side none of them eliminated through the first four days of play obviously you can't say that on the men's side with joke bitch fees hoodar down naka shima all eliminated through day number four other than that though again yes a couple of upsets so big other than that there but none of the men's matches even went the distance on day number four that were in round number none of the round two matches he did have carlo selcor as who slow out of the gates but the six love second set and then just started playing the return with a little bit more depth had for you paralyzed the point where the drop shot became its typical brand of effective it just felt like he was moving more comfortably throughout the course of rallies in the face of that far via peace as well by the end of the match he looked like Carlos fricking alcharez and that is a scary scary prospect certainly for the rest of the field moving forward and look it was

32:38always going to take a couple of matches you could argue alcharez again more vulnerable and week one than in week number two even as the competition continues to improve he's getting better and better it's a scary prospect but leaving our draw preview he was my pick to win the title by default I don't know if it's going to be by default by the end of this next match he started to look like Carlos fricking alcharez again even if the hair is a little long and the starts are a little slower than perhaps you would have expected but he gets through medvedev never really threatened Seb Gorsi played I don't know why he was so happy to play the slice backhand I wonder if I saw his fingers heavily taped if there's a bad blister that made it more difficult for him to hit through the backhand have been there myself so know that pain Gorsi served big played tricky could never really threaten medvedev with any sort of consistency of pace can't say the same about who be our cots absolutely threatened Ben Shelton again I don't remember Ben's toss being so far

33:39behind his head I don't like it like I just feel like he's not hitting the serve as big as he will need to moving forward in this tournament forehand look and find backhand look and find he's electric energy wise every time he steps on to the court and that's just competes so fucking well 63577675 again pushed but Shelton threw ultimately in four sets over her cots you had Francis again 3 6 and 5 in the face of Arre Sakamoto well I'm still buying buying in on but Francis is hitting his forehand in particular his forehand return better than he's ever hit it before in his career Francis is playing really well and I should have mentioned it only Francis Tiafo can pull off a pink like that because he's electric because he is that exceptional because he does compete like a man who should be seen and so again I like the fit for Francis I would love to see any of myself any of my siblings any of my buddies in my club

34:43tennis circle try to pull that off in fact that should be our next we should do fancy football league and the punishment is then our next hitting trip lose just got to dry wear that the entire time and just accept all the because again Francis is good enough to do it and he looks sharp sharp as always booblick sharp and inshate said win over Manorino LaHachka I actually thought Toby Samuel played really well um Toby's forehand can be a missile I think I undersold how big that weapon can be when he's swinging big but LaHachka just fires missiles at you at all moments he's through and straights I thought Tommy played well I just thought I'm continuing to believe in Dino Prisman's the backhand has gotten better he's fit when he has time that forehand is a weapon it was real it was fun physical tennis between he and Tommy Tommy's forehand's looking really good always more comfortable playing it inside up and more than anything it's just as a move for Tommy just there's a fluidity to Tommy him alka razz like it's a very short list of players who can move

35:44the way Tommy Paul moves across the cordon the attacking Tennessee plays behind that combination of movement as well always impressive so again good stuff from Tommy Vashiro straight set winter earth foreset winter rinder kinesh straight sets at chivari foresetso verjek firmly pretty sound day for all the men she's pushed but not to five sets again no match is going the distance and then by the way how about the woo man woo wee bait um want to talk about another brilliant ball striker woo 756 361 over duck worth him vs alka razz mmm are we talking about shot making um shapavall of by the way quietly through a third round straight set win for him over lukevan asha where is Dennis shapavall right now in the live rankings if you guessed 48th you would be correct uh next up for shapo uh a date oh versus Ben shelton hmm interesting interesting there'd be some big hit in that one looking forward to it ct

36:48pons by the way consolidates his round one victory with a foreset win over Lloyd Harris marion and nivona similarly fore sets over baritone to back up the upset of jokovic in round number one that's everything on the men's and women's side again coming out of day number four for on half of round of 16 play just an update on where the american stand because didn't give it to give you that clean update after day number three uh but i think the americans are in a pretty good spot you look on the women's side four and three overall today but the seeds pagula nivara lee all the dancing towns and making the most of the draw i said it in our draw preview given shidruk will in skuh third round should be the expectation for her lo and behold here she is in the third round tenon mcnelly each knocked off by fellow americans not much you can do their slow and stevens knocked out by marty kosjuk certainly not a bad loss 15 and 15 overall doesn't sound like a great top line number but with the seeds looking as good as they've looked and the amount of american on american crimes it feels like we've had uh nisimofan kruger cannon and venus

37:53i can keep going the point is i think the american women are a really good spot because obviously we're going to judge them by how they do in week number two and the seeds have put themselves in the position to make some serious and always coming in week number two on the men's side 14 and 10 now after day number four shelton tiafou paul all advancing naka shima knocked out but at the expense of a fellow american in alix michael sin tough one for goersney but even to get that first win at a major already a winning event for him and they get knocked out by seven cedet neal med that i've no harm in in that loss again blanche night the only disappointing one boss of a red e like you felt like he had a real opportunity in round number one but even him coming back from injury qualifying into the main draw that feels like a victory the men 14 and 10 overall it's a pretty sound top line number and again yes we lost naka shima he's the first seed to lose and it was at the hands of a fellow american so pretty happy with how the americans have performed thus far in this us open of course last but not least the players with the college ties no shock the

38:57headliners as always Schneider navaro they always look good at the majors they have for the women once again swan connect up by Fernandez but the women seven and nine overall you still have john john you still have start up sava in action here today in around number two for the men again you lost a seed two seeds the virginia seeds in hodar and naka shima that one hurts because both felt well positioned to not only reach week two but do some things in week number two and yet shelton advancing vashiro and rinder kinesh holding seed goersney gets his first win Samuel gets his first win firmly was down two sets to one and five two in that four set or four one whatever it was and he found around one victory 13 and 18 overall doesn't sound great but again i think the college men have been pretty sound so far here in at this us open and again that's everything coming out of day number four now probably listening this is day five it's underway it's not the most loaded schedule anisimoviverstacker can lily tanger serve be the biggest weapon on the court

40:02how many opportunities will she have to actually hit through her one handed back in which i think is a real weapon another great litmus test for okay is an isimov dominant is she in finalist form once again goffbedosa just a couple of big names who doesn't want to match up like that another good test for osaka taken on the vet catteriness and yaka of a partonkova vrs. maria and then the big ones junction went opportunity to get back to the top 100 opportunity rip off a fifth consecutive win for the first time since she was one of the five best players in the world at n 2024 oh and two against puton sava they've yet to play a match against one another on hard court so looking forward to that opportunity for chin when on the main side look we're on retirement watch for la mont guy elvars learner you're watching that hatchenov has f a a on upset alert like again great litmus test how real should we take philix as a contender for contention not even the title but just contention at this open boob vrs. michael zang i'm going to be watching that this is where i follow up vrs. helice

41:06demon vrs. bvd uh bvdz just again it's it you're watching for things what is demon's form at this point of the event uh that's what i'll be watching most closely on day number five but with things setting up how they how they have and again i talked about all the women's matchups but are reluctant on the men's side you have a sheldon chapo you have lachechka cizzi pass alcharez vrs. wu tomie vrs. bbublik the rematch a lot of good battles setting up for this middle weekend of singles action and giving us labor day weekend here in the states that's what you want you want good tennis when people are going to be watching think we'll have that opportunity here as this uh us open continues to unfold that said that's where things set after day number four now again hopefully we will be back on a better recording schedule as we approach day number five excuse me day number five so recap second half of our round two recently can i have these daily recap of course because of the tireless efforts of our super producer daniel westoff a shout out to him a shout out of course as well

42:09to the support we get from our friends at the laurels spring school to learn more about why they continue to rank amongst the five online schooling options in the country visible will spring stuff day that's a four fantastic super producer daniel westoff our friend at the laurels spring school from all of us here at both track records and the belief podcast network on the coasts out stress that's the break