Shelby Rogers won her first two games against Emma Raducanu on Ashe Stadium Monday, then was basically shown the door.
Reilly Opelka ran into a buzzsaw named Lloyd Harris on Armstrong Court and he, too, headed for the exit, barely a minute after the Rogers match had ended.
Gone were two of the last three Americans in this U.S. Open, with only Jenson Brooksby remaining. He was playing No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic at night with not great prospects of making the quarterfinals.
Advancing to the quarterfinals was sixth-seeded Matteo Berrettini, who beat Oscar Otte, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Rogers came up against Raducanu, an 18-year-old from Britain who has all the makings of a next generation star, and lost, 6-2, 6-1. Opelka faced the unheralded but certainly capable 24-year-old South African Harris, who plays the game with a swagger and quite a good serve and deadly forehand. Harris won 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. Both winners move on to the quarterfinals.
It’s been a very testing three days for Rogers, who spent considerable energy and gained significant attention after she ousted No. 1 seed Ash Barty on Saturday night. She then had to play a doubles match on Sunday with partner Petra Martic, which they lost, 7-6, in the third set.
“I think someone asked me the other day some advice I would give, and I said try not to get too high or too low with every match,” said Rogers, referring to the emotional component of winning a match over a top player like Barty. “It’s tough when you know you have a win like that and everybody is treating it like the final.”
There was little question that she was running low on energy. Raducanu ran off 11 straight games and still hasn’t lost a set in this tournament, including three rounds of qualifying.
“I’m not thrilled with the way my run here ended,” Rgers said. “I have so, so many positives to take from this week, but I also want more and I want to try to challenge myself to keep pushing and do better and go a little bit further next time, see if you can have an empty tank but play good tennis anyway.”
Opelka managed to win the first set in a tiebreak, but didn’t seem to have any answers from that point on. The 6-11 bomber lacked key ammunition.
“I actually served poorly, to be honest,” Opelka said. “He served great. He was the better server. Then with me not serving at a high percentage of first serves, he’s going to put a lot of balls in play, and just changes the whole dynamic of the match.”
The New York crowd got a good look at Raducanu, who they will see a lot of in the future. She plays way above her age and showed complete poise while contesting a match on Ashe Stadium for the first time.
Watching her was Virginia Wade, the 76-year-old who won the U.S. Open in 1968, the first time it was held in the Open Era of tennis. Wade also won the Australian in 1972 and was the last British woman to win Wimbledon in 1977.
“I had Virginia Wade in the front row,” said Raducanu, who has taken inspiration from Grand Slam champion Andy Murray. “I saw her, spoke to her a little bit after the match. It was just really cool to be able to speak to such legends, get their tips on a couple things.”
Getting through to the quarters was Alexander Zverev, the No. 4 seed, who had a good little tussle with Italian Jannik Sinner, the 13th seed, beating him 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7), and sixth-seeded Matteo Berrettini, who dropped a set but topped Oscar Otte, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
