For Marketa Vondrousova, merely to be playing tennis at all represents a triumph. At the age of 24, the gifted Czech southpaw has spent almost as much time in the rehabilitation room as she has on court. She has overcome long-term injury on three occasions, most recently in May last year, when she underwent surgery on her left wrist for the second time in four years.

A former junior world No 1 who was still a teenager when she reached her first grand slam final four years ago at Roland Garros, Vondrousova began this season uncertain that she would ever again recapture the form that once carried her to No 14 in the world. There was, therefore, undeniable romance in the 6-3, 6-3 victory over Elina Svitolina that earned the world No 42 a place in Saturday’s Wimbledon final, the first unseeded player to achieve that distinction in the open era.

“After everything I’ve been through, two surgeries, it’s not always easy to come back,” said Vondrousova. “You don’t know if you can play at this level and if you can be back at the top and back at these tournaments. I’m just grateful to be on a court again, to play without pain. I’m just really grateful for it.”

Yet for Svitolina, this was the cruellest of defeats. The war in her native Ukraine has infused the 28-year-old with a newfound sense of mission. After her dramatic quarter-final win over Iga Swiatek, the former world No 3 spoke movingly of how seeing videos of children following her matches in her war-torn homeland made her heart “melt”. Her unwavering support for her country, both on and off the court, has drawn universal admiration.

Svitolina’s place in the public affections has been cemented further by her remarkable achievements in the three months since she returned from maternity leave, which include a first title in almost two years in Strasbourg and a quarter-final run at Roland Garros. No champion would have been more popular.

But Svitolina, shouldering the hopes of a people for whom any scintilla of joy is precious at this time, was unable to reproduce the form that has carried her past four grand slam champions over the past 11 days. Hard though they tried, her Centre Court supporters were unable to lift her to victory. An error-strewn performance left the wild card overwrought with emotion.

“I got a lot of messages from different people, it’s unbelievable that they been there with me all the way,” said Svitolina, fighting back tears. “Hopefully they continue.

“For sure it’s a big motivation, but [also] it’s a lot of responsibility, a lot of tension. I try to balance it as much as I can.  

“Sometimes it gets maybe too much. But I don’t want to take it as an excuse that I lost today. I try to take it as a motivation for me. I just hope that Ukrainian people continue supporting me.”

That much is not in doubt. Determination was etched in Svitolina’s features throughout, but for all her redoubtable tenacity and fighting spirit, she could find no answer to Vondrousova’s extraordinary range and variety. The Czech, who combines a whippy forehand with a knifed sliced backhand, a difficult lefty serve and a drop shot that must surely be the envy of every woman on tour save Ons Jabeur, rarely gave Svitolina the same ball twice. Her rhythm-disrupting changes of pace, spin and trajectory drew 24 unforced errors from the Ukrainian while limiting her to a paltry nine winners.

After a sequence of three consecutive breaks, Vondrousova found herself in control of the first set at 4-3. That began a run of seven consecutive games for the Czech, whose confidence flowed as freely as her movement. One audacious running forehand, sliced viciously beyond the incoming Svitolina as she served to stay in the opener, drew a broad grin from Vondrousova. Another was struck with such sweet venom that Jan Kodes, the Czech men’s champion of 50 years ago, rose to his feet to applaud from his vantage point in the royal box.

Yet even as Vondrousova stood within two games of the final at a set and 4-0 to the good, it felt almost as though Svitolina had yet to start. A key element in the outstanding run that took her past Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin, Victoria Azarenka and Swiatek, with their combined tally of 14 majors, was a newfound readiness to take on her shots rather than rely on her skills as a counter-puncher. Only now, with the contest seemingly beyond her, did Svitolina begin to show that dimension of her game, breaking twice to get back on serve. It was not to last, Vondrousova holding her nerve to stem the tide and see out a famous victory.

“I should have found a better way to deal with Marketa’s game style,” said Svitolina. “She’s a very tricky opponent. She gets lots of balls back.

“I tried to fight back and just give everything out there, even though I didn’t play my best.”

As for Vondrousova, she will now face Jabeur, the sixth seed, who scored a 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3 upset over Aryna Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion and world No 2. Vondrousova has played the Tunisian twice this year, winning both times.

“I feel like we’re the same in some things,” said Vondrousova. “We’re playing dropshots. We’re playing slice.”

Another area of common ground is that, on Saturday afternoon, one of them will become a grand slam champion for the first time. Once again, a fairy tale is guaranteed.

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Nine months after giving birth to her daughter Skaï, and just three months after returning to the tour, Svitolina scored the biggest upset of the tournament so far, defeating Iga Swiatek, the top seed, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 on an afternoon drenched with drama and emotion.

It was one of the most significant victories of Svitolina’s career, matching her best previous performances at the majors, which came when she reached the last four of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019. Those runs came in very different circumstances. The 28-year-old former world No 3 was still a top-10 player back then, not a wildcard ranked 76th. There was peace in Odesa, the port city in southern Ukraine where she was born, and where her 85-year-old grandmother – with whom she speaks almost daily – still lives. As for marriage and motherhood, they were yet to come, her relationship with fellow player Gaël Monfils still in its early days.

 “I think war made me mentally stronger,” said Svitolina, reflecting on the altered landscape of her life. “Mentally I don’t take difficult situations as like a disaster, you know? There are worse things in life. I’m just calmer.  

“I think also, because I just started to play again, I have different pressures. Of course, I want to win. I have this motivation, like huge motivation, to come back to the top. But I think having a child, and war, made me a different person. I look at things a bit differently.”

She plays differently, too, as Swiatek discovered. Traditionally a counter-puncher who relies principally on her defensive skills and athleticism, Svitolina has added a more aggressive edge to her game since her comeback, most notably an increased willingness to take on a forehand that can be lethally effective. That weapon carried her to the French Open quarter-finals last month and served her well at the key moments here, not least during an astonishing first-set sequence in which she won 20 out of 22 points to cancel out a 5-3 lead for the Polish world No 1. 

“I think she played with more freedom and more guts,” said Swiatek, who broke twice in the early stages without ever managing to break away. 

“Sometimes she really just let go of her hand and she played really, really fast. I don’t know if she played like that before.

“She was changing rhythm so much in terms of playing these faster shots sometimes.”

Visibly stressed in the latter stages of the opening set, Swiatek initially appeared to benefit from a timely rain delay. The Pole sought the advice of her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, while the roof was being closed, and also had a lengthy discussion with her mental coach, Daria Abramowicz. The 22-year-old returned to the fray a calmer figure, and once again seized an early break, capitalising on some sloppy play from Svitolina. 

History was to repeat itself, though, a combination of Svitolina’s enterprise and the Pole’s errors cancelling out the advantage, and the eventually needed all her resilience to cancel out a 4-1 deficit in the second-set tiebreak.

In the previous round, Swiatek performed a similar act of escapology late in the second set against Belinda Bencic, saving two match points. That was enough to see her home on that occasion, but there was no let-down from Svitolina, who stuck doggedly to her task all afternoon, never allowing Swiatek to establish the momentum on which she thrives. Some heavy returning from the Ukrainian in the third game of the decider gave her the platform for a break, and Swiatek’s mistakes did the rest. There would be no way back for the French and US Open champion, who finished the contest with a whopping 41 unforced errors.

“I didn’t feel today like I could play my best game,” said Swiatek. “But I gave my all in everything that I could do.

“It’s hard for me to point to one thing that failed exactly. I think Elina was just overall playing aggressively and giving it all in every shot.

“For sure I played some mistakes that I shouldn’t do. That’s why I lost. But she also put pressure on me.”

Yet nobody has felt more pressure at these championships than Svitolina, who knows that every win is also a small victory for her country. In Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin, Victoria Azarenka and Swiatek, she has beaten a quartet of grand slam champions, only the fourth player in the open era to achieve that distinction. Svitolina is doing all she can to raise funds and awareness for her embattled country off the court, but she also understands the value of whatever joy she can bring on it.

“I know that lots of people back in Ukraine are watching,” said Svitolina. “I’m happy I can bring a little happiness to their life. There were many videos on the internet where the kids are watching on their phones. This really makes my heart melt, seeing this. Just happy I could bring a little happiness to people of Ukraine.”

As for Swiatek, she leaves with a first Wimbledon quarter-final on her CV and a clear sense that she has made progress on her least favoured surface. Having previously struggled with her movement on grass, she has more closely resembled her usual dynamic self these past nine days. She has improved technically and tactically, serving with greater authority and showing a greater commitment to attack, and once she perfects the adjustments required to bring her forehand to bear with greater consistency, a title challenge will surely follow. For now, though, like just about everyone else, she will be cheering for Svitolina.

“I’ll root for her, especially because we like each other as people,” said Swiatek, whose unwavering support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion began has earned universal respect, not least from Svitolina, with whom she shared a touching embrace at the end. 

“I told her at the net that I hope she wins this tournament. You know how it is in tennis: it’s tough to win a grand slam. I know that for sure she wants it really bad.”

The same could be said for Jessica Pegula, the fourth seed, whose sixth grand slam quarter-final went the way of the previous five as she was undone 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. 

Things began promisingly for Pegula when she claimed an early break, but slowly the American became entangled in here 24-year-old opponent’s rhythm-disrupting web of southpaw spins and drop shots. Having dropped the opening set, however, Pegula began to make headway, finding her range from the baseline and volleying with a smoothness and assurance befitting of a woman ranked third in the world in doubles.

By the time rain arrived, forcing a short delay while the roof was closed, Pegula was a break up in the decider and seemingly on course for a first major semi-final. But although she came within two points of a 5-1 lead, Vondrousova’s aggression down the stretch proved decisive.

“It sucks to lose that way, having the lead in the third,” said Pegula, who agreed with Vondrousova’s observation that the delay came at a perfect moment for the Czech.

“It definitely changed momentum, because I totally had the momentum going to serve that 4-1 game. I still had chances with the roof closed. She played solid. She literally didn’t miss for, like, the next five games.”

Vondrousova, who reached the French Open final four years ago but has been plagued by injury, revealed afterwards that a phone call to her husband during the delay helped to inspire her emotional victory.

“He just said, ‘Try to fight. You are playing good. You are playing a great match,’” said Vondrousova, the world No 42, who will now face Svitolina for a place in the final. 

“After the match point, I couldn’t believe it. We were playing [an] amazing match, she is a great player. I think everything just went on, and I just couldn’t hold the tears.”

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He carries himself very well. No doubt very nice guy on and off the court. Brings a lot of intensity on the court. Reminds me of someone from his country that plays with a left hand.

Obviously, you lose to someone seven times, you feel crappy.

Coco Gauff on losing to Iga Swiatek seven times in a row.

Every time it finishes, I’m happy… again, same today, because [there was] wind, a dry court, I had a mouthful of clay since probably the third game of the match, and I don’t like it. I don’t know if people like to eat clay, to have clay in their bags, in their shoes, socks. White socks, you can throw them to garbage after the clay season. Maybe some people like it. I don’t. I am happy to have it finished.

Daniil Medvedev on bidding adieu to clay courts after his loss to Brazil‘s Thiago Seyboth Wild.

I think if it’s meant to be, I will get there one day. If it’s not, then I will go have a daughter and make her win Wimbledon. You always have options.

Ons Jabeur on her quest to win a first grand slam title.

I think tennis players have smaller bladders.

I’m talking about the juniors until the seniors. I never had that. You just pee before the match and that’s it. I never saw anyone wanting to pee during the match. I think there is a bladder problem.

I don’t want to be the only oldie talking about the old times, but something we could do together is to check this bladder problem. We definitely have to do something about it. It’s strange.

Yannick Noah, the 1983 champion, on the modern penchant for bathroom breaks.

I think Hawk-Eye just takes the guessing out of it. Mentally, you do kind of have to move on because there’s nothing you can do about it. I do think in that sense it helps.

But of course, I don’t think it’s 100% accurate. Jelena [Ostapenko] probably, like, wants to do a third-party investigation.

Jessica Pegula on the case for using electronic line-calls on clay.

You play with balls that get bigger after two seconds. The new balls don’t even last a game. The balls are rubbish.

You can’t play tennis with that type of ball. You can’t attack, you can’t move ahead. It’s impossible to play an ace. It’s another style of tennis, which is different. It requires physical qualities; it’s a question of who can keep the ball in the court for the longest. My game is based on service and aggressive hits back, but the ball is just not moving. It’s terrible.

It’s Roland Garros, one of the greatest tournaments in the world, and we’re playing with these silly balls.

Local favourite Benoît Paire was not impressed by the Wilson balls in use at Roland Garros.

I don’t want to really talk about [Iga’s Bakery jokes]. I really get why people do that, because it’s fun and tennis is entertainment and everything.

But from the players’ point of view, I want to be respectful to my opponents and, you know, you don’t see the stuff that is behind the scenes. Sometimes it’s not easy to play such matches and sometimes it’s not easy also for the opponents.

I don’t want to talk about the bakery. Twitter can talk about it, but I’m just going to be focused on tennis.

Iga Swiatek is more comfortable doling out bagels and breadsticks (6-0 and 6-1 sets) than talking about them.

This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.

Holger Rune on winning a point against Francisco Cerúndolo after a double bounce.

It was very close, but very far.

Karolina Muchova on her defeat to Iga Swiatek in the final.

Guys, I don’t have a lot of things to tell you. He played great. I mean, I don’t think he played exceptional, but he played great. One thing that I’m going to try to avoid in the future is have melatonin pills and naps before matches because it clearly doesn’t seem to be working.

Stefanos Tsitsipas attempts to explain his quarter-final loss to Carlos Alcaraz.

The dream? I know that Djokovic, he did 22 Grand Slams or 23, so I want to go until 25, if it will be possible.

Mirra Andreeva, 16, outlines her ambitions for the future.

Novak knows. Novak waits. Like Roddick said, he takes the legs, then he takes your soul, then he dig your grave and you have a funeral and you’re dead. Bye-bye, thank you for coming.

Goran Ivanisevic, Novak Djokovic’s coach, on what makes his man special.

I’m not supporting the war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.

Aryna Sabalenka clarifies her stance on Belarusian support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

I’m Ukrainian. I’m standing for my country. I’m doing everything possible to support, to give a good spirit for the men, for the women, who are right now in the frontline, fighting for our land, for our country.

So can you imagine the guy or a girl who is right now in the frontline, you know, looking at me and I’m, like, acting like nothing is happening. I’m representing my country. I have a voice. I’m standing with Ukraine. I’m standing, I have my position in this war.

What the Russian government or Russian soldiers are doing on our land is really, really terrible. For us, it’s just our position in this, and it touches many different areas. It touches sport, it touches acting, it touches all different areas. So, you know, we are all united, Ukrainians. And this is our position.

Elina Svitolina with some of the most powerful words uttered at Roland Garros in 2023.

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Sabalenka declined to speak to the media following her previous two matches at the French Open, claiming she “did not feel safe” after being challenged by a Ukrainian journalist over her position on the war, which she has denounced. But after defeating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4 to advance to her first semi-final in Paris, the world No 2 returned to a packed press room to offer her clearest statement yet about Lukashenko. 

“It’s a tough question,” said Sabalenka, asked if she supports the Belarusian president. “I mean, I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.”

Sabalenka said photographs and videos of her in Lukashenko’s company stemmed from the 68-year-old’s regular attendance at Billie Jean King Cup matches played on home soil, pointing out that images circulating online pre-dated the war in Ukraine. She also reiterated her desire not to be drawn into political debate.

“We played a lot of [BJK] Cups in Belarus,” said Sabalenka. “He was in our matches taking pictures with us after the match. Nothing bad was happening [at] that time in Belarus or in Ukraine or in Russia. 

“I said it many times already, I’m not supporting war. I don’t want my country to be involved in any conflict.

“I don’t want sport to be involved in politics, because I’m just a tennis player, [a] 25-year-old tennis player. And if I would like to be political I wouldn’t be here. I don’t want to be involved in any politics. I just want to be a tennis player.”

Yet politics were inescapable for Sabalenka from the moment she drew Marta Kostyuk in the opening round of the tournament. The match ended in controversy when Kostyuk, who is from Ukraine, was booed after refusing to shake hands following her 6-3, 6-2 defeat. It has become the norm on the tour for Ukrainians to decline the traditional post-match handshake when facing Russian or Belarusian opponents, and Kostyuk remarked afterwards that spectators who booed “should be embarrassed”. 

Similar scenes unfolded after Sabalenka’s latest win, with Svitolina jeered by the crowd for ignoring the Australian Open champion as she stood leaning on the net, waiting to shake hands. It was a bizarre moment, partly because Svitolina has made it plain that she will not engage in post-match formalities with Russians and Belarusians, and partly because, as the wife of the popular French player Gaël Monfils, she has been adopted by the Parisian crowd as one of their own throughout the fortnight. Svitolina, a former world No 3 who gave birth to the couple’s first child last October, felt Sabalenka had made things worse by approaching the net.

“Yeah, I think so, unfortunately,” said Svitolina when asked if her opponent’s actions had inflamed the situation. 

“I don’t know, to be fair, what she was waiting [for], because my statements were clear enough about the handshake.

“My initial reaction, don’t know, was like, what are you doing? Because [in] all my press conferences I said my clear position. 

“Maybe she’s not on social media during the tournaments, but it is pretty clear. I made multiple statements that I’m not shaking hands, and she played obviously Marta as well the first round. So is quite simple.”

Sabalenka, who looked towards her box and laughed after the boos had subsided, said she had lingered at the net out of habit. 

“It just was an instinct, like I always do after all my matches,” said Sabalenka, who has yet to drop a set in Paris.

“I think she didn’t deserve all these boos. I’m giving such big respect to her [for] what she’s doing after giving birth. It’s impressive.”

On that point, everyone could agree. The renaissance of Svitolina, a title-winner in Strasbourg the week before the tournament, has been the talk of the town over the past 10 days. In the previous round she claimed a notable win over Daria Kasatkina, the ninth seed and one of the few Russians to have publicly denounced the war, and a tight first set against Sabalenka suggested there might be more to come. The 28-year-old broke early in the second set, but was ultimately unable to contain the Belarusian’s power and intensity. 

Sabalenka said she had lost sleep over her decision to shun the press, but insisted she did not regret the move.

“I felt really disrespected, and I felt really bad,” said Sabalenka, who will face Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals after the Czech defeated Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2. “[A] grand slam, it’s enough pressure to handle, and I just tried to focus on myself, on my game.  

“I really hope that you guys will understand me, my feelings. You know that I really respect all of you, and I [am] always open. You can ask whatever you want. You will get all the information.  

“But in the last press conference, I felt like my press conference became a political TV show, and I’m not [an] expert in politics. I’m just a tennis player. I just need to step back and just bring focus on my tennis and on my game.”

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Of course, for a player of Djokovic’s stature, a record like that is little more than a statistical footnote. The Serb is infinitely more interested in edging ahead of Nadal in the hard currency of grand slam trophies, a feat he would achieve were he to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires for a third time next weekend. 

Even so, to eclipse Nadal in any respect at an event where he has been so dominant that a statue has been erected in the grounds in his honour, one must clearly be doing something right. Djokovic’s little slice of Roland Garros history is a reminder that he has been comfortably the world’s second best clay-court player for almost two decades, quite an achievement in itself when you consider it is the surface on which he is least comfortable.

“I’m proud of it, but my attention is already on the next match,” said Djokovic, who will face Karen Khachanov, the Russian 11th seed, for a place in the last eight. 

“Obviously, quarter-finals, Khachanov, I know what my goal is here. I’m trying to stay the course mentally and not look too far. The performance of today gives me a great deal of confidence about how I felt, about how I played.”

With the possibility of a blockbuster semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz moving ever closer, such confidence will be needful. Alcaraz dispatched Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, the 17th seed and a man almost as flamboyant of shot as the Spanish world No 1 himself, in straight sets, matching Djokovic’s 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 score-line to accentuate the sense that the pair are destined to collide. Alcaraz won their only previous encounter, a tight three-setter at last year’s Madrid Open, but they have yet to meet over five sets at a major. 

“I think this was my best match in the tournament so far,” said Alcaraz, who will face former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, against whom he is unbeaten in four meetings, in the quarter-finals. “I think I played a good level.”

Musetti had hoped to dictate with his forehand, focusing his attack on Alcaraz’s backhand side to carve out space before delivering the coup de grâce to the opposite corner. A similar strategy served the 21-year-old well last summer in Hamburg, where he consigned Alcaraz to his first defeat in a final. But Musetti, not helped by a second-serve win percentage that languished at 33% in the first set and 38% in the second, was never allowed to play the match on his own terms. For all the sumptuous shot-making displayed by both men, Alcaraz was the more solid player at the key moments. 

“He is probably the best player in the world, and at the moment it’s really tough to beat him, especially on clay,” said Musetti. “I think he grew a lot since the last meeting we had in Hamburg.

“I think today he showed that he probably can win this tournament.”

Djokovic is all too aware of the challenge that lies ahead.

“You always follow the top guys in your half, how they’re playing,” said the Serb. “Of course you’re looking, you’re analysing everyone’s game. You’re basically following what’s going on in the draw.  

“But most of the attention is obviously focused on you, on what you need to deliver on the court, how you need to perform, how you need to win the next match. It’s only about the next step. But of course I do keep in mind what the others are doing.”

Djokovic’s vigilance extends to Nadal, who will be side-lined for a further five months after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the hip injury that has kept him out of action since the Australian Open.

“I really hope that his rehabilitation process can go well and that we can see him next season,” said Djokovic. 

“I think that he’s so important for our game on and off the court, one of the greatest legends of tennis in the history of the game. We want to see a healthy Rafa, no question about it, playing for what he has announced [will be] his last season. 

“Hopefully he’s going to be able to do that.”

In the women’s singles, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina’s fairytale run continued as she defeated Daria Kasatkina, the Russian ninth seed, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Svitolina, who is married to the French player Gaël Monfils and gave birth to the couple’s first child eight months ago, will face Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, in the quarter-finals.

“I have played [my] last two matches against Russian players so it will not change, everything will be same,” said Svitolina of the prospect of facing the Belarusian.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, who came through a testing match against former finalist Sloane Stephens on Sunday night, declined the opportunity to hold an open press conference for the second match in a row. The Australian Open champion said after her third-round win over Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova that she did not “feel safe” addressing the press after she was twice challenged by a Ukrainian reporter over the Putin regime’s invasion of the country, which is supported by Belarus.

“She’s playing really great tennis here in Paris, moving well,” Sabalenka said of Svitolina following her 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory. 

“[She’s] another player who is going to run a lot and put a lot of balls back, and I just have to be patient and wait for that perfect shot to finish the point.” 

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A day after a tense meeting between Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, and barely an hour after Novak Djokovic had ignited controversy by signing a TV camera with a political message, Alcaraz illuminated the tournament with a virtuoso performance to breeze past Flavio Cobolli, a 21-year-old Italian qualifier ranked 159 in the world, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.

Do not be fooled by the score-line. Cobolli, a powerful, elegant ball-striker making his grand slam debut, did not play badly, far from it. But Alcaraz’s joy at returning to the grand slam stage for the first time since the US Open was palpable, and manifested itself in a scintillating exhibition of shot-making that delighted the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd, the Spanish world No 1 and his team, and even, at times, Cobolli himself. 

Alcaraz was beaten early in Rome by Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, another gifted young player ranked outside the top 100, but any possibility that he might suffer a hangover from that defeat was immediately dispelled. With three games gone, Alcaraz was sliding wide to his left to steer a backhand around the net post for a winner. Minutes later, he produced an exquisitely disguised drop shot from a position so wide and so deep that most players would have been content merely to keep the ball in play. At one point he turned to his coach, the former world No 1 and 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, offering a smile that was half glee, half disbelief.

As the contest wore on, those emotions were increasingly mirrored by Cobolli. It began with the Italian casting the odd quizzical look across the net. When Alcaraz glided on to what would have been a point-ending dink against anyone else, angling a winner across the face of the net, Cobolli gazed in disbelief. When Alcaraz repeated the trick at the end of a lung-busting sprint midway through the third, conjuring a magical, shoelace-level flick at full pelt, Cobolli threw his arms in the air in sheer incredulity. Both men laughed after that one. A catchphrase writer’s dream, Alcaraz makes the impossible look ordinary.

Moments later, an almost casually caressed half-volley drew a similar response from the Italian. But there is a reason Cobolli is ranked seventh in the race to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. With the contest seemingly over, he went for broke and briefly threatened to extend the entertainment into a fourth set.

Swinging freely, matching and perhaps even eclipsing Alcaraz’s power, Cobolli saved three match points before chasing down a drop shot to break with a mighty forehand winner. It was a magnificent effort, but the Spaniard does steel as well as he does silk. Switching to warrior mode, Alcaraz saw out the win in combative style to set up a second-round meeting with Japan’s Taro Daniel.

“I try to forget it’s so serious, I try to enjoy [myself] on court,” Alcaraz told Mats Wilander, a three-time winner in these parts, in his on-court interview. “I love playing tennis, and for me that’s the most important thing.

“That’s something that I try to do in every match, and for me it’s the most important thing, to enjoy and to smile on court.

“[Ferrero] always tells me before the matches that the most important thing is to enjoy. He told me a lot of times that he enjoys watching my tennis as well.”

It was all a far cry from the more serious business going on elsewhere. 

After defeating Aleksandar Kovacevic of the United States 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) on Court Philippe Chatrier, Djokovic stoked political tensions by inscribing a camera lens with the message: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence.”

It was a refence to recent unrest in Kosovo following local elections last month. The former Serbian province declared independence in 2008, but is not recognised as a separate state by Serbia. The appointment of ethnic Albanian mayors in northern Kosovo last month, when local Serbians boycotted elections, leading to a turnout of less than 4%, has led to clashes between Serbian demonstrators and local police and Nato peacekeepers. 

“I am not a politician and I have no intention of getting into political debates,” Djokovic, whose father Srdjan was born in Kosovo, told Serbian media. 

“As a Serb, it hurts me a lot what is happening in Kosovo, our people who are expelled from the municipalities. The least I could do is this. I feel responsible as a public figure – doesn’t matter in which field – to give support. Especially as the son of a man who was born in Kosovo, I feel the need to show support to all of Serbia.”

Djokovic, a two-time champion in Paris and seeded to meet Alcaraz in the semi-finals this year, said he did not know if he would be punished for his comments, but made it plain he would not be deterred from making similar expressions of support in future. 

“I am not holding back, I would do it again,” said Djokovic.

Earlier in the day, Elina Svitolina marked her first grand slam outing as a mother with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Italy’s Martina Trevisan, the 26th seed and a semi-finalist in Paris last year. Svitolina, who is married to the French star Gaël Monfils and gave birth to Skaï, the couple’s first child, last October, only returned to the tour two months ago in Charleston, but won a title in Strasbourg last week and promptly pledged to donate her prize money to help children in her native Ukraine. Asked about the spat between Kostyuk and Sabalenka, Svitolina made her feelings plain.

“A lot of rubbish is happening around the situation, where[as] we have to focus on the main point of what is going on,” said the former world No 3. “A lot of people, Ukrainian people, need help and need support. 

“We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.  

“So right now my focus, and I want to invite everyone to focus, [is] on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, you know, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war and they are fighting for Ukraine. 

“We are missing the main point that people now at this time, they need help as never before. The kids, you know, they’re losing their parents, they’re losing parts of their body. 

“There are so many things that we can do [to] help in different ways. You can donate a couple of dollars that might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people. 

“You know, we are missing the main point of all of that and talking, talking, talking about nothing.”

In using her platform to advocate for a cause far bigger than any tennis tournament, Svitolina offered a powerful reminder that sport does not exist in a vacuum – even if the outlandish skills of Alcaraz may sometimes make us wish otherwise.

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With explosions rocking the city, the family took shelter in a nearby underground car park. After two days, Yastremska’s father, Alexander, had seen enough. Before the war erupted, he had intended to accompany Dayana, the world No 128, to this week’s WTA event in Lyon, for which his daughter had been given a wildcard. Now he determined to send his wife Marina and their two daughters to France while he stayed in Ukraine.

A harrowing journey to the Romanian border followed, at the end of which Dayana and Ivanna, 15, bade farewell to both their parents after Marina made a last-minute decision to remain with her husband.

“I don’t know how everything will end, but you have to take care of each other,” Alexander told his daughters. “You have to build your new life.”

After a tearful farewell, Yastremska continued the journey to France with Ivanna, a promising junior on the ITF circuit, by boat and then air.

“We were shocked, but at the same time we didn’t want our father to stay alone there,” said Yastremska. “Ivanna started to cry a lot, and I had to keep my emotions under control because I took a big responsibility.”

Granted a wildcard for the doubles, the sisters were beaten 6-2, 6-4 on Monday by Georgina Garcia-Pérez of Spain and Switzerland’s Xenia Knoll. But on Tuesday evening, Dayana pulled off a remarkable victory in her opening singles match, prevailing 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (9-7) against Ana Bogdan of Romania after saving two match points.

It would have been a notable comeback at the best of times; in the circumstances, it was an extraordinary display of courage, tenacity and self-belief. Never a player to hold back, Yastremska snatched both match points from Bogdan’s hands with typically bold play. Serving at 5-6 in the second set, she retreated deep into her backhand corner to smoke a forehand winner, denying the Romanian a straight-sets win. Yastremska repeated the trick with Bogdan leading 7-6 in the climactic tiebreak. By then, she had blown three match points of her own, her anguish evident as she relinquished a 6-3 lead, missing a pair of forehands before hitting her first double fault of the set. 

When the final point was won, after three hours and five minutes, the sense of relief was palpable. As her sister celebrated at courtside, Yastremska fell to her knees, overcome by emotion, before sharing a warm embrace with Bogdan and draping herself in a Ukrainian flag. The hardest match of her life, she would later call it.

“Definitely I’m going to remember this match,” said Yastremska in her on-court interview, acknowledging that leaving her parents behind had been “very tough emotionally”.  

“I’m happy that I won for my country, and at the same time I’m very sad,” Yastremska added.

“My heart stays at home and my mind is fighting here, so it’s very difficult to find the concentration, to find the balance and everything. 

“This win, compared with what is going on in my country, is nothing. But I’m happy, at least, that I’m also fighting for my country. I’m very proud of the Ukrainians, they’re really heroes.”

Yastremska’s sentiments were echoed by her compatriot Svitolina, who later beat Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in the opening round of the Monterrey Open. Svitolina, who won 6-2, 6-1, said she was on a mission for her country.

“I think it’s my mission to unite our tennis community to stand with Ukraine, to help Ukraine because what we’re going through is a horrible thing for all Ukrainians,” said Svitolina, the former world No 3, who is donating her prize money from the tournament to the Ukrainian army.  

“That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m playing for my country and doing my best, using my platform and using my resources to introduce that, and trying to invite people to support Ukraine.” 

Svitolina, the world No 15, only went ahead with the match after the sport’s governing bodies followed the International Olympic Committee’s recommendation only to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete as neutral athletes. Wearing the blue and gold colours of her country’s flag, she cut a focused and hugely determined figure, never allowing her intensity to drop off.

“For me, playing the match here, I’m not playing only for myself,” said the Olympic bronze medalist. “I’m playing for my country, I’m playing for the help of the Ukrainian army and people in need. Every victory that I’m going to get is going to be very special.”

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There are crafty types such as Ashleigh Barty and Ons Jabeur, players who will work out what an opponent wants and make sure they don’t get it, slowing down rallies with their spin and variety or speeding them up with their weight of shot.

And then there’s Leylah Fernandez, who has her own special trick: she steals time. This is not simply a matter of holding her position on the baseline, although that is certainly part of it. Like Angelique Kerber, who she ambushed in the previous round of the US Open to set up Tuesday night’s tense quarter-final showdown with Elina Svitolina, Fernandez has the soft knees, strong legs and rare blend of balance and technique to squat low and absorb an opponent’s pace without conceding ground. 

The young Canadian has an equally Kerber-like capacity to control the racket face in extremis, redirecting the ball to create short, sharp angles and return with interest shots that might force other players into retreat. Again, this has temporal consequences, limiting the reaction time on the opposite side of the net just when her opponents least expect it. 

Where Fernandez really comes into her own as a time bandit, however, is in her ability to make the ball explode off her racket with virtually no backswing, while simultaneously directing her shots with pinpoint accuracy. Like a Larry Holmes jab or one of those sudden, lethal toe-enders in which Ronaldinho used to specialise, Fernandez has the ability to fell an opponent with one short, sharp shock. It is an approach alien to Svitolina, who likes nothing better than to stand off the baseline and scrap. Few players defend better than the Ukrainian, but aggression at key moments has been central to Fernandez’s astonishing run in New York, and it gave the 19-year-old a crucial edge as she consigned the fifth seed to an epic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) defeat.

A case in point came in the sixth game of the opening set, where Fernandez pounced on a short second serve before winning a 24-stroke rally to claim the first break of the match. It was just the kind of protracted exchange on which Svitolina might have been expected to thrive. But while the Ukrainian remained camped out a good two metres behind the baseline, Fernandez stood in, progressively squeezing the time and space available to her scrambling opponent. The coup de grâce was a two-pronged affair, a searing sliced backhand drawing Svitolina outside the doubles alley before a sweetly-timed backhand down the middle of the court completed the job. “Svitolina is playing not to lose and Fernandez is playing to win,” was the neat summation offered by Martina Navratilova in her broadcast commentary for Amazon Prime Video.

Having conceded her first set at this year’s tournament, Svitolina was not about to lie down. A semi-finalist in 2019, she came into the contest on a nine-match winning streak, following her title-winning run in Chicago, and buoyed by a summer that has brought an Olympic bronze medal and marriage to Gael Monfils. For Fernandez, meanwhile, the challenge was a novel one. Her shock wins over Naomi Osaka and Kerber had both come after losing the first set, the teenager belatedly rousing herself within a game or two of defeat. The question now was whether she could maintain the attacking intensity that had given her the upper hand.

The answer was not long in coming. Shaking off her early passivity, Svitolina began opening her shoulders, racing to a 5-1 lead before overcoming a brief wobble to see out the set with an ace. An early break in the decider handed Fernandez the momentum again, and at 2-5 Svitolina looked to be down and out. But she mounted a brilliant comeback, forcing a tiebreak in which she again forced her way back into contention after trailing. At 5-5, however, Fernandez pulled off a dramatic forehand winner, a running pass flying off the net tape to bring up the first match point of the night. Svitolina drove a backhand long, and the US Open had its youngest semi-finalist since Maria Sharapova in 2005.

“Today’s match was definitely one of the hardest, not only tennis-wise but also mentally and emotionally,” said Fernandez, who will face Aryna Sabalenka in the last four after the second-seeded Belarusian beat a below-par Barbora Krejcikova 6-1, 6-4. “Svitolina is a great player, great fighter. I was glad I was able to fight in the first set. In the second set she upped her level and I unfortunately made a few mistakes on key moments. I’m glad I was able to recuperate for the third set. The tiebreaker, too. A little bit lucky at 5-All, but I’ll take all the luck I can get. I was glad I was able to push through the finish line.”

The march of the teenagers continues.

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Garbiñe Muguruza faced just such an opponent in Victoria Azarenka, and in winning a contest of brutal power and intensity she might finally have shattered whatever glass ceiling it is that has previously prevented her from doing herself justice at the US Open.

The Spaniard, who has won Roland Garros and Wimbledon and reached the Australian Open final, has never previously been beyond the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, but a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Azarenka, a fellow former No 1 and a player with three finals in New York to her name, could just change that.

Muguruza’s level fluctuated – her serve, unplayable at times in the first set, went off the boil dramatically in the second – but her commitment to the task never wavered as she lifted her game at the key moments, most notably at the business end of the first and third sets, to beat Azarenka at her own game.

“I started very well, got that first set,” said Muguruza, who had never previously won a match in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I feel like in the second set I lost my momentum a little bit. She also came up with great shots. In the third set I managed just to be there again and go for the match a little bit. When you face these types of opponents you cannot wait, you have to go to get the win. I felt I did it. I’m happy that it’s actually my first Arthur Ashe win, after almost 10 years. It’s kind of funny.”

Muguruza’s amusement is unlikely to be shared by her opponent. Having fought back brilliantly to stem a tide of irresistible shot-making from Muguruza towards the end of the first set, Azarenka cut an increasingly frustrated figure in the decider, taking out her frustration on her racket after driving a backhand wide to drop serve in an epic sixth game that swung back and forth over multiple deuces. Azarenka arrived in New York with points to defend after reaching last year’s final, where she was beaten by Naomi Osaka, and her ranking is likely to plummet to outside the top 30 from her current position of 19th. But she can take consolation from a superb contribution to a match that ranks among the best of the tournament so far. 

As for Muguruza, there is a momentum gathering around the Spaniard that bodes well for her prospects of finally making a deep run in New York. She has survived three tough matches to make the second week, clinching two tiebreaks to see off Donna Vekic and recording a first win in four attempts over Germany’s Andrea Petkovic prior to facing Azarenka, and seems more at peace with the perpetual hubbub of the city than in previous years.

“Negativity was more than positivity in the previous years,” said Muguruza, reflecting on a tournament that ought to be a happy hunting ground, given her preference for hard courts. “This year, I don’t know, I just prepared well and said, ‘Hey, at some point it’s going to change, this might be the year. I feel also, having gone through those couple of first tough matches gave me the feeling that, ‘Hey, I can do well here.’ I think going through the first rounds always gives you that confidence. In the previous years, I didn’t manage to go through those opening rounds.”

Muguruza next faces Barbora Krejcikova, the eighth seed and French Open champion, who has yet to drop a set on her maiden appearance in the main draw of the singles. The pair met recently in Cincinnati, where the Czech avenged a defeat in the Dubai final five months ago, but in this mood Muguruza need fear no one.

After an early exchange of breaks, Muguruza and Azarenka played first-strike tennis of the highest order, finding corners and painting lines as they drilled their groundstrokes with relentless power and precision, punishing the slightest sign of hesitation or lapse in quality with dead-eyed ruthlessness. It was nip and tuck until the eight game, when Muguruza suddenly hit a purple patch. Having held to love with one of five first-set aces, Muguruza took control of Azarenka’s next service game with a sequence of returns that stretched Azarenka’s powers of retrieval beyond breaking point.

A serving masterclass followed, Muguruza showcasing her variety with stinging deliveries wide, down the centre and into the body to bring up three set points. An ace sealed the set and, by the time she slammed two consecutive backhand winners to leave Azarenka comtemplating a 0-30 deficit in the opening game of the second set, Muguruza had won 14 out of the previous 15 points.

Without warning, however, the wheels came off. Azarenka fought her way out of trouble to hold, and in the next game a foot fault at 0-15 proved costly for Muguruza, the Belarusian pouncing on a short second serve to drill a crosscourt backhand return for a winner. A double fault followed from Muguruza, and when she landed herself in further trouble two games later with another foot fault, falling a double break behind, not even a faltering attempt to serve out the set at 5-1 could stall Azarenka for long.

If the second set was a more uneven affair than the first, the decider marked a return to the ferocious, near-flawless power play of the initial exchanges. Both players staved off early break points, but when Muguruza carried the momentum from an emphatic hold into the sixth game, fighting her way to a break after several deuces, there was to be no way back for Azarenka. Serving to stay in the match at 2-5, the Belarusian double-faulted to bring an electrifying contest to an anticlimactic conclusion.

Elsewhere, Simona Halep moved into the second week with a three-set victory over French Open quarter-finalist Elena Rybakina. Halep lost the opening three games of a seesaw opening set, fighting back from 3-5 down and saving four set points before finally converting her seventh set point to win a 20-point tiebreak. Rybakina, the 19th seed, hit back to level the match and led by a break in the decider before Halep recovered to see out a 7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 6-3 victory.

“It’s nice to be back in the second week of the US Open after five years,” said Halep, whose best result at Flushing Meadows came in 2015, when she reached the semi-finals. “[In] this match, every point was important, and I knew that I have to fight for every single point, because she never gives up. She showed that she’s very strong mentally, very stable emotionally.”

Halep will play Elina Svitolina in the last 16 after the Ukrainian fifth seed extended her winning streak to eight matches with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Daria Kasatkina of Russia. “I think it was a very solid performance mentally and physically, with my tennis as well,” said Svitolina, the champion in Chicago last week. “I was very composed.”

Angelique Kerber continued her recent resurgence, moving into the last 16 with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over fellow former champion Sloane Stephens. The former world No 1 could face the defending champion Naomi Osaka in the next round.

“Before you walk on court, you know of course that the last few matches you lost,” said Kerber after what was only her second win in seven meetings with Stephens. “For me it was really important to have the mentality that I really want to win the match, and going there to fight for every ball. I think that was for me the key to turn around the match, especially after the first set.”

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Logic points to a Barty victory in New York. She’s the world No 1 and newly crowned Wimbledon champion. She leads the WTA Tour for match wins this season, claiming five titles on three different surfaces. She has arguably the most complete game of any woman out there. Surely she’s a shoo-in for US Open champion? Well, not necessarily. No player has done the Wimbledon-New York double since Serena Williams in 2012. In fact, since last autumn’s French Open – a sequence that includes four slams and an Olympics – no player has even made two major semi-finals. If Barty is to buck that trend, she’ll have to progress beyond the last 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her career. She did exactly that at the All England Club, of course. But her draw in New York is about as tough as they come.

What she says: “This is a tournament that thrives with the energy and I can’t wait to get started.”

2) Aryna Sabalenka

If firepower alone won grand slam titles, Sabalenka would have a hatful by now. Nobody smokes the ball harder than the big-hitting Belarusian, but there’s a reason why Barty is the world No 1. A little variety never goes amiss and, as the Aussie has shown, the ability to absorb power can be just as important as the capacity to dish it out. But even in the absence of a contingency plan, Sabalenka is heading in the right direction. Having finally progressed beyond the fourth round of a major for the first time with her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, she is up to a career-high ranking of No 2. An elusive first slam feels closer than ever, but a tough draw – she may have to get past Tamara Zidansek, Danielle Collins, Elise Mertens and Barbora Krejcikova just to make a semi-final against defending champion Naomi Osaka – suggests it might not come in New York. 

What she says: “The goal is, as always, to win it. I think everyone has the same goal. But after Wimbledon I just understand that I don’t have to think about win it or final or be in the second week. I just have to enjoy my game.”

3) Naomi Osaka

In a necessarily selfish sport, Osaka takes a refreshingly broad view of the world. The 23-year-old pays heed to what’s going on around her, and is prepared to act. Last year in Cincinnati, she announced her withdrawal from the tournament in protest at the shooting of Jacob Blake, prompting the entire tennis treadmill to close down for the day in solidarity. At the US Open, she emerged as a powerful advocate for racial justice, using face masks to highlight police brutality and other acts of violence against black people. More recently, Osaka donated her Cincinnati prize money to relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake. For a naturally introverted character, it’s a lot to take on, and things finally came to a head at the French Open, where she revealed following her controversial withdrawal that she has suffered from depression. Only she will know how far her activism has compromised her tennis, but Osaka subsequently missed Wimbledon and has not looked quite the same since. Now might be the time for the defending champion to forget outside distractions and put herself first for once. If she does, a third US Open title in four years is well within her grasp.

What she says: “Whatever I feel, I’ll say or do it. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.”

4) Karolina Pliskova

Consistency has been a long time coming for the 2016 finalist, but the days when the rangy Czech could just as easily fall in the first round of any given tournament as win the title seem, finally, to be behind her. Defeated by Barty at Wimbledon in the second major final of her career, she immediately looked ahead to New York, and another chance to shake off her unwanted label as the best active player without a grand slam title to her name. It all points to an improved mindset under her new coach Sascha Bajin. Back up to world No 4 after briefly slipping out of the top 10 for the first time in five years before Wimbledon, the 29-year-old beat Sabalenka for the second time in two months to reach the final in Montreal, and followed up with a run to the semi-finals in Cincinnati. Still a major champion waiting to happen.

What she says: “I’m excited to be back in the city, in New York, because last year was not really like New York. So some shopping, of course, and then back to business.”

5) Elina Svitolina

Married life clearly agrees with the Ukrainian. No sooner had she tied the knot with Gael Monfils than she battled her way to an Olympic bronze medal, the most notable prize of a career that has too often flattered amid the daily grind of the WTA Tour only to deceive at the majors. Svitolina warmed up for Flushing Meadows, where she was a semi-finalist two years ago, with a confidence-bolstering title run in Chicago. Drawn in Osaka’s quarter, she is one to watch.

What she says: “I came [to Chicago] to get some confidence, play some good matches, and in the end it happened like that. I’m looking forward to New York.”

6) Bianca Andreescu

If the champion of two years ago had the physical endurance to match her deep reservoir of talent, her progress from a section that includes Petra Kvitova, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko could almost be taken for granted. As it is, the young Canadian may have her work cut out to avoid a fifth first-round exit in six tournaments against Wimbledon quarter-finalist Viktorija Golubic.

What she says: “I’m really trying to focus on process and long-term, because I’m also only 21. I want to be able to do what 21-year-olds do. I feel like in 2019, it was just tennis, tennis, tennis.”

7) Iga Swiatek

It’s tough to say where Swiatek is at right now. After a disappointing loss to Maria Sakkari at Roland Garros, where she was the defending champion and joint favourite for the title, the Pole bounced back to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time. She was beaten by Ons Jabeur in SW19 and fell to the Tunisian again in the opening round of Cincinnati, her only match of the North American hard-court swing. Danger lurks in a section that includes Cincinnati finalist Jil Teichmann and Cleveland champion Anett Kontaveit. A projected quarter-final showdown with Barty is by no means a given for a player who has never previously been beyond round three in New York.

What she says: “Try, fail, learn, repeat … I’m looking forward to the next challenge.”

8) Barbora Krejcikova 

A first grand slam title at the French Open, an Olympic gold medal in doubles, a debut in the world’s top 10. What a season it has been for a player ranked outside the top 100 this time last year. Demonstrated her hard-court pedigree with victory at the Prague Open and a solid run in Cincinnati, where she fell to Barty in the last eight. Seeded to mark her debut in the main draw of the singles with a last-eight showdown against Sabalenka. Expect her to keep the appointment.

What she says: “My debut is coming, the US Open is knocking on my door!”

9) Garbiñe Muguruza

A fine start to the season has drifted into mediocrity for the former French Open and Wimbledon champion. At her best, she is more than capable of winning the only major where she has yet to make the final. At her worst, she could go out in the opening round, where she faces a potentially tricky test against former quarter-finalist Donna Vekic. Assuming the Spaniard survives that test, former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka may lie in wait ahead of a possible last 16 clash with Krejcikova, her three-set conqueror in Cincinnati. Will have to put in the hard miles to reach the fourth round and equal her best previous showing.

What she says: “Well done is better than well said.”

10) Petra Kvitova

Twice a quarter-finalist at the US Open, Kvitova has endured a chequered season, losing early at all three majors. A good run in Cincinnati, where she racked up straight-sets wins against Madison Keys, Veronika Kudermetova and Jabeur before retiring from her quarter-final against Angie Kerber with a stomach issue, offers hope that better things may lie ahead. Here’s hoping the big lights inspire her.     

What she says: “These streets will make you feel brand new.”

Best of the rest

Camila Giorgi, high on confidence after winning the biggest title of her career at the Canadian Open, was the one player every seed would have hoped to avoid in the opening round. Simona Halep, who has played just two matches since returning from her summer injury layoff, drew the short straw. It could be a tough day at the office for the 12th-seeded Romanian, but if she comes through it will be a major confidence boost.

Another name no one will want to see on the draw sheet is Belinda Bencic, the 11th seed and newly crowned Olympic champion. The Swiss is expected to meet Swiatek in the last 16, although first she’ll need to get past Montreal semi-finalist Jessica Pegula. A last-eight meeting with Barty would have real blockbuster potential.

Angelique Kerber knows the course and distance at Flushing Meadows, having won the title five years ago, and looks in the mood to rekindle past glories. She reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and in Cincinnati, falling on both occasions to Barty. Drawn in the opposite half to the Australian here, the 16th-seeded German is well capable of derailing Osaka’s title defence should the pair meet as anticipated in the last 16.

Nor should the claims of Paula Badosa and Danielle Collins be overlooked. It’s been a breakthrough season for both players, with 24th seed Badosa reaching her first major quarter-final at the French Open and Collins, seeded 26th, winning the first titles of her career in Palermo and San Jose. Collins, who could face Sabalenka in round three, has the tougher quarter of the two, but both women have the potential to emerge from their respective quarters.

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