If any of us worried about the quality of tennis during this highly unusual edition of the 2020 US Open, well, it turns out we needn’t have. Even with an absence of fans and the usual hoopla and fanfare that accompany what is normally the year’s last major in New York, the players stepped up to the challenge. And they produced a number of absolute classics—no asterisk necessary, thank you—many of them in the money rounds.
1. Borna Coric shocks Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6. In an afternoon match that was delayed for several hours and thus didn’t begin until well after 8pm, the Greek was in full flight, soaring toward the fourth round: up a commanding two-sets-to-one and 5-1 in the fourth set. Tsitsipas was minutes away from an on-court interview and a shower when he suddenly began misfiring. The 4th seed squandered seven match points, to the surprise and delight of Coric. The Croat made the most of it, playing impeccable ball from the baseline—even as Tsitsipas refused to wilt. The Greek could have been excused had he just gone away, but both players continued to summon their best fighting instincts, all the way to the fifth-set breaker. It was a nearly five-hour Greek drama that didn’t end until 1am. Tsitsipas immediately wrote on Twitter: “This is probably the saddest and funniest at the same time thing that has ever happened in my career!”
2. Naomi Osaka outserves Jennifer Brady, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3. The 2018 US Open champion had her hands full with the most surprising revelation of the tournament, and indeed, the restarted tour: Jennifer Brady, a 25-year-old American. Brady, who played college tennis at UCLA, had kicked around the tour for six years, rising steadily but un-spectacularly, until she suddenly exploded this summer, winning her first title without dropping a set. In the semifinals, Brady was cool as a cucumber and didn’t back down from the challenge of playing the biggest match of her career so far. She took her massive topspin forehand and imposing serve right to Osaka, who responded in kind. The match was played at a mystifyingly high level throughout; each player converted just a single break point—that’s how close this match was (and Brady faced only two break points across three sets). Only a couple of points determined the difference between the fast-rising No. 28 seed and the 2020 US Open repeat champ.
3. Andy Murray comes back from the dead vs. Yoshihito Nishioka, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. Andy Murray, the 2012 US Open champion and three-time major winner, very nearly had his career ended by a series of hip injuries and surgeries (indeed, doctors told him he might never play again). The Scot, down to a ranking of 115, brought his bionic hip to Flushing with few expectations. In the first round against the 49th-ranked Nishioka, the 33-year-old Murray definitely looked like his best days were long behind him. The Scot lost the first two sets and was down a break in the third. Yet he summoned the immense fight and will that have defined his career, refusing to go away. Over the course of nearly five hours, Murray scrambled, he lobbed, he smacked forehands. He saved 10 break points in a row. But mostly, Murray fought like a beast. Never count him out: the Great Scot has won a shocking 10 five-setters coming back from a two-set deficit (three of those have come at the US Open).
4. Victoria Azarenka vanquishes Serena Williams, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Serena, who was a perfect 10-0 versus Azarenka in majors (including back-to-back title bouts in 2012 and 2013), came out smoking, firing aces and blowing the Belarusian off the court. But the 31-year-old mom (as opposed to the 38-year-old mom) summoned the resolve and inner peace that have marked her comeback on tour, and Azarenka mounted an improbable resurgence in this throwback semifinal. Azarenka not only did a spectacular job returning Williams’s biggest weapon, her serve, but she stalked the baseline and blasted winners past the suddenly befuddled American to win for the first time against her longtime nemesis in a Grand Slam.
5. Naomi Osaka takes the title over Victoria Azarenka, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Osaka came storming back to defeat a valiant Vika, the first time a woman had lost the first set and come back to win the championship since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario beat Steffi Graf in 1994. The women’s final was a dramatic, momentum-swinging match befitting a fascinating matchup: a 31-year-old mom who hadn’t won a tour-level match in a year, but was suddenly on an 11-match win streak, versus a 22-year-old Japanese player who already had two Slams in her pocket (and indeed had never lost in a major once she got past the quarterfinals). Azarenka started off absolutely clubbing the ball and made 16 of her first 17 first serves. But Osaka dug in, masterfully hitting deep and hard from the back court, smacking 34 winners, on her way to a third major title. Ironically, Osaka won the championship by the exact same score—and miraculous turnaround—by which Azarenka beat Serena Williams in their semi (see #4, above).
6. Dominic Thiem outlasts Alexander Zverev, 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6. Both men won two lopsided sets. Both served for the match in the final set. A weird year saved the weirdest men's match for last. A mess for a couple hours, the match between two combatants each trying to win his first major suddenly became compelling and bizarrely entertaining in the fifth set. In a contest of will and enervation on the part of both, with both men hobbling at the end, the race for the prize became a contest of who could remain standing. Neither deserved the win and yet both did. A wildly memorable four-hour encounter, the year 2020 in a microcosm.
Honorable mentions: Both of No. 12 seed Denis Shapovalov’s all-consuming, topsy-turvy five setters. Shapo beat the American Taylor Fritz, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, to squeak into the fourth round; but the Canadian youngster lost his quarterfinal to Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in stunning fashion, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 0-6, 6-3, despite sprinting into the decisive set with a 6-0 blanking of Pablo in the fourth.
WATCH: Highlights: Osaka vs. Azarenka, Final
