Nadal defies inspired Medvedev in five-set epic to win U.S. Open

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Sept 8, 2019; Flushing, NY, USA; Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates with the championship trophy after beating Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the men’s singles final on day fourteen of the 2019 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Rafa Nadal survived a heroic Daniil Medvedev fightback to claim an epic 7-5 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-4 win and a fourth U.S. Open title on Sunday.

The win moved Nadal within one Grand Slam crown of matching Roger Federer’s all-time record.

A routine end to the Flushing Meadows fortnight looked on the cards when Nadal went up two sets and a break up.

But it turned into a near five-hour thriller as Medvedev staged a comeback that left the Spaniard shaken and Arthur Ashe Stadium buzzing.

Not once since 1949 had a player come back from two sets down to win the U.S. Open final but the tall Russian, cheered loudly by a crowd that booed him mercilessly earlier in the week, came mighty close.

On the ropes with Medvedev looking to deliver the knockout blow, though, Nadal showed once again why he is the game’s greatest fighter and he lifted himself off the canvas to scrap his way to a 19th Grand Slam title.

Nadal needed three championship points to finally kill off his 23-year-old opponent and let out a mighty roar as Medvedev’s final return sailed long before falling on his back to soak up the cheers.

Already the King of Clay the Spaniard has been a master of the Flushing Meadows hardcourts this New York fortnight, dropping just three sets on way to the final.

The 33-year-old lefthander became the second oldest U.S. Open champion in the professional era behind Australian Ken Rosewall, who was 35 when he lifted the title in 1970.

While the women have served up four different Grand Slam winners this season, the old guard of Nadal, Federer and Novak Djokovic continue to rule the men’s game with the “Big Three” having combined to win the last 12 majors.

Medvedev arrived at his first Grand Slam final as the hottest player in men’s tennis, riding the momentum from reaching four consecutive finals, but it was not enough to carry him to a maiden major title.

Nadal was not exactly holding a cold hand either, the Spaniard riding a 10 match win streak going 26-1 in his last five events.

Canada toasts ‘Queen B’ Andreescu after major triumph

Most Canadians had never heard of Bianca Andreescu a year ago but on Sunday they woke up to realise her U.S. Open triumph was not a dream.

She had, in fact, claimed the country’s first Grand Slam singles title.

All of Canada, it seemed, was clinging on to Andreescu’s every shot during a bold and brilliant performance on Saturday, in which she dominated
rallies, with punishing ground-strokes to overwhelm tennis great Serena Williams in straight sets.

The 19-year-old’s triumph, which came in her U.S. Open main draw debut and against the undisputed queen of the sport, was the latest step in a meteoric rise for Andreescu and it dominated front pages across the country.

The French-language newspaper Le Journal De Montreal crowned Andreescu the new queen with its “La Nouvelle Reine” headline, which featured a full-page photo of her on-court kissing the U.S. Open trophy.

“QUEEN B!” read the Toronto Star’s front-page headline.

For a country that produces many of the world’s best ice hockey players with regularity, having a Grand Slam singles champion to call their own is new territory.

Canada has had close Grand Slam calls in recent years with Eugenie Bouchard, finishing runner-up at Wimbledon in 2014 and Milos Raonic losing the 2016 final in London but Andreescu’s run has captivated the country like tennis has never done before.

When Andreescu faced Williams inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, she was cheered on at viewing parties across her home country, the type normally reserved for events like Olympic ice hockey finals featuring Canada but never before for tennis.

“Bianca Takes Major Bite Out of Big Apple,” read The Province newspaper in British Columbia while the front page of The Times Colonist in Vancouver called it “A day for history: Canada’s Andreescu wins U.S. Open.”

Andreescu, who at the end of 2018 ranked 178th in the world, started to gain attention in January when she beat former world number ones Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams on her way to the Auckland final.

In March, as a wildcard, she won the Indian Wells title but a shoulder injury forced her to retire from a last-16 match at the following event in Miami and caused her to miss most of the clay and grass court seasons.

Andreescu, the daughter of Romanian immigrants to Canada, won her hometown tournament in Toronto and has not lost a completed match since March.

She holds an 8-0 record over top-10 players in her career.

Her place alongside Canadian sporting greats is already secured and while not even the most optimistic of Canadian tennis fans could have predicted this a year ago Andreescu has been playing the scenario out for a while.

“This wasn’t the only time I visualised playing in the finals actually against Serena Williams,’’ Andreescu said.

“For it to become a reality is just so crazy.

“I guess these visualisations really, really work.’’

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