Faulkner

Amazing from Kei.

Kei reads Nick’s serve better than anyone, I think. There’s a reason he’s 4-0 against him. Meanwhile, the men’s Round of 16: Federer vs Mannarino Monfils vs Anderson McDonald vs Raonic Isner vs Tsitsipas Khachanov vs Djokovic Nishikori vs Gulbis Del Potro vs Simon Vesely vs Nadal

Novak is so used to being the villain that the boos only emboldened him (again, see the 2015 USO final against Fed with a rude and partisan crowd against him, a final he won). I love his defiance, but he does desperately need to speed things up while serving.

Women’s Round of 16 matches set: Hsieh vs Cibulkova Ostapenko vs Sasnovich Van Uytvanck vs Kasatkina Kerber vs Bencic Pliskova vs Bertens Goerges vs Vekic Serena vs Rodina Giorgi vs Makarova LOL at Ostapenko having the best follow-up result after winning her first Slam:

Now Halep is out to Hsieh. 9 of the top 10 seeds (including No. 1) gone on the women’s side. Hsieh really redlined. Meanwhile, Cibulkova is on a mission. She’s basically saying, “You didn’t give me a seed? I’ll play like one while all of the so-called top seeds crash out. I’M STILL HERE, BITCHES!”

You’re welcome!

People of color bringing it for American tennis. Mackie McDonald, Tiafoe, the Williams, Sloane, Madison, et al. Not to mention up-and-comers like Vickery, Gauff, Mmoh, Liu, Osuigwe. Would be great if they were actually promoted on the level of Fritz. Might help bring down those aging demos.

Serena pulls it out against the other Kiki. Great performance.

Venus fought valiantly but falls to Bertens. Only Halep and Pliskova remain of the top 10 seeds.

Venus is going to have to score another come-from-behind victory. She’s done it many times before in recent years. Monfils sends Querrey packing. Does the Wakanda sign again in celebration. Love that.

And Madison Keys is out. That half of the draw just opened up for Serena if she can seize the opportunity. Zverev better thank the universe for his good fortune because if his match was scheduled earlier he’d likely be out as well.

Everyone was screaming at him, “Why are you standing so far behind the baseline?” It just allowed Taylor to take total command of the match. The good thing is that someone can actually tell him what he was doing wrong so that he can make adjustments. Well, one hopes he makes the adjustments.

Muguruza out to Van Uytvanck. Wow. She’s going to lose a lot of points. The upsets continue. Meanwhile, Sascha Zverev has played like garbage today. Down 2 sets to 1 to Taylor Fritz. Play being suspended for the day is the best thing that could have happened to Sascha.

Interesting from this reporter.

Konta and her robotic game are out. Knocked out of 32 seeds by Serena, Cibulkova channels her anger into her play. They say Konta will fall into the 40s in the rankings.

And Krunic.

Cilic is out. Federer’s path to the final even clearer.

Isner lucked out with the rain delay and night of rest. Who didn’t benefit? Marin Cilic, it seems.