Mikael Ymer

Stormy Thursday Stops Citi Open Play; Double Dip of Pro Tennis Today, Weather Permitting

Steve Fogleman in Washington

Mother Nature took the win at Rock Creek Park in Washington on Thursday, with some afternoon matches and all evening contests postponed as raging winds, hail and rain buffeted the hard courts of the Citi Open. Earlier in the day in the oppressive heat, even the wins were sloppy.

Mikael Ymer was clearly exhausted after advancing to the quarterfinals in his victory over Emil Ruusuvuori, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4 in 2:18. After the match, Ymer rested in his player chair on court for several minutes with an ice pack and bugged-out eyes. Security hauled him to the locker room as quickly as they could. The slopfest found both men being broken on serve 14 times. Don’t talk to me about the WTA.

“On court I felt okay today, but conditions are very tough,” Ymer said. “I think we are playing one of the toughest sports on this planet, because besides dealing with the heat, you also have to constantly like make so many decisions.”

Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarterfinals is less-than-convincing fashion, struggling mightily against Camilia Osorio, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in 2:50, with the #2 seed racking up 9 double faults in the process. But she was fighting against not just Osorio, but the looming storm.

“Yeah, I think first we were pretty lucky to get it done before it started chucking it down,” she said. “You
always have that in your mind on the court, as well. You’re thinking of the rain, that’s going to come, because you see the clouds and it’s important not to let that affect you. You might want to rush things a bit.”

On a positive note, Liudmila Samsonova racked up 13 aces in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback win from favorite Alja Tomljanovic on Stadium Court. Xiyu Wang is sitting pretty after securing a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory over Donna Vekic shortly before the thunder rolled in. She’ll sit back and wait for Tereza Martincova and Vika Azarenka to wear themselves before taking on the winner in the quarterfinals set for this evening.

And yes, your Yoshihito Nishioka photo of the day is posted below. He keeps on rolling through his DC opponents, this time a nail-biting 7-6(2), 7-6(1) triumph over 7 seed Karen Khachanov. Yesterday’s winners are the luckiest of the draw, since they’ll need to play only one match today. And that’s a tall order since the weather forecast predicts rain to begin mid-afternoon at the venue.

Doing double duty today are the winners of Kyrgios and Opelka, Tiafoe and Van de Zandschulp, Dimitrov and Korda, Rublev and Kressy, Rune and Wolf and Martincova and Azarenka.

This could be a very long night of tennis, or we could see another double header tomorrow to try to fit the schedule in for finals on Sunday. There are also storms forecast for Saturday, so buckle up.

Wild Wednesday in Washington Whittles the Citi Open Field

Steve Fogleman in Washington

If you like upsets, you’d have loved Wednesday in Washington. The Citi Open has been full of surprises and the midweek edition of the tournament found many players on the outside looking in at what could have been.

First up was Emil Ruusuvuori, the scourge of English spell-checkers everywhere. #46 in the world as the tournament began, he shocked #2 seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 7-6(3).

“The first set, I wasn’t returning that well, but at the end of the first set, I was making first serves and that helped me,” he said after the win. The win set him up with a match against Mikael Ymer for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Ymer crashed the party of 15 seed Aslan Karatsev with a turnaround three set victory, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win on Grandstand court and earned a date with the cutest little kid dressed as Andre Agassi for Halloween. I mean Emil Ruusuvuori.

Yoshihoto Nishikori looked out of gas after his two set victory in the first round but the plucky Japanese player stuck around long enough to empty the tank of 11 seed Alex De Minaur 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-2. He’ll face 7 seed Karen Khachanov at noon and I wouldn’t look past Yoshi if I were De Minaur.

Simona Halep was forced to retire with heat related illness, and Daria Saville upset #1 seed Jessica Pegula, 7-5, 6-4. “You know, I felt like it was really, really important to win the first set,” Saville said. “I thought that, like, for me it would have been really hard to be composed in the second set if I lost the first set. I would have been like, Oh, my God, this is a struggle here.”

Her struggle and Halep’s departure opens a massive hole in the top half of the women’s draw. One of Either Saville, Anna Kalinskaya, Kaia Kanepi or qualifier Rebecca Marino will find themselves in the final this Sunday.

As we head to Quarterfinals Friday, there are four scheduled women’s singles matches to determine the four remaining quarters berths today, and eight matches to whittle the men’s field down to size.