Of the Czech representatives at the US Open, only Pliskova is in contention. The tennis demigod Rafael Nadal is out of the eight finals. The world number one is Kyrgios!

The eighth round at this year’s US Open brought many interesting, or even surprising, results. Rafael Nadal finished in this part of the bracket, beaten by the host Tiafoe and thus notching one of the biggest victories of his career. The most anticipated match among the men was better managed by Nick Kyrgios at the expense of the world number one Medvedev.

Czech track

Petra Kvitova can no longer celebrate her advancement to the next part of the tournament. In a very difficult duel, she lost to the world number eight and home number one Pegula. The match lasted just over an hour and the Czech fell 2::6 and 3::6.

On the other hand, Karolina Pliskova, who is climbing the ladder, was successful. In a clash of two former world No. 1s, she beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. The Czech got off to a great start to the match. She took her opponent’s serve on the first opportunity and led 3: 0.

She went on to win the first set 7::5. The second set had the opposite course. Azarenka soon took the lead with a break. However, she was unable to hold on to the lead and a tiebreak was played, in which the Belarusian eventually won the well-played set.

The deciding set was clearly in the hands of Pliskova as she took her opponent’s serve in the opening game. She did it again in the end and that meant winning the set 6:2. It was an even match, but Pliskova, as usual, served better. More aces, more success after the first serve and above all much better deflecting of her opponent’s break points and using her own.

Karolina will play her quarterfinal match against Aryna Sabalenka on September 7 at 18:00 our time.

Overview of favourites

The most anticipated duel is between Nick Kyrgios and Daniil Medvedev. Kyrgios, if he just focuses on tennis and not on everything else, is capable of beating anyone and this year he clearly proves it.

Now he has added another very valuable scalp to his scalps, that of world number one Daniil Medvedev. Despite the fact that he was definitely not favoured by the bookies, he was the better man on court. It was a battle of very good serves, with a total of 43 aces on display. After sets of 6::7, 6::3, 3::6 and 2::6 the Australian advanced.

Cameron Norrie ended up on the racket of Rublev, who took the match 3 times with a score of 6::4. However, Rafael Nadal did not manage to win his match. He surprisingly couldn’t keep up with the home team’s Tiafoe. But the man of small stature is celebrating big results.

The home hero outplayed the Spaniard and deservedly moves on. He’s registered more aces or winning shots. And he made fewer double faults and fended off his opponent’s break points better. After 6::4, 4::6, 6::4 and 6::3, Tiafoe is already in the quarterfinals.

Ranked neighbour and compatriot of Nadal, Carlos Alcazar overcame Marin Cilic. The nearly four-hour duel offered 5 sets, 11 breaks and surprisingly avoided a tiebreak. A beautiful and balanced match, at the end of which the only 19-year-old Spaniard was happier after sets 4::6, 6::3, 4::6, 6::4 and 3::6.

Source: ATP, WTA