Junior wheelchair makes Grand Slam debut | US Open updates

Ben Bartram has become the first player to win a junior wheelchair match at a Grand Slam tournament

ByThe Associated Press
September 8, 2022, 8:08 PM
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, serves to Jessica Pegula, of the United States, during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, serves to Jessica Pegula, of the United States, during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):

8 p.m.

Ben Bartram has become the first player to win a junior wheelchair match at a Grand Slam tournament.

The 17-year-old from Britain, who is the No. 1 seed in the boys' wheelchair singles division, beat 15-year-old Ivar van Rijt 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday.

The U.S. Open this year became the first of the four major tournaments to have a junior wheelchair division.

The men's and women's fields were also expanded to 16 players. Top seeds Diede de Groot and Shingo Kunieda won their quarterfinal matches Thursday in those events.

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7:45 p.m.

Ons Jabeur has raced to a surprisingly easy 6-1 lead over Caroline Garcia in the women's semifinals.

Garcia has won 13 straight matches and hadn't dropped more than four games in any set during her first five matches in Flushing Meadows.

But the No. 17 seed from France looked overwhelmed in her first Grand Slam semifinal, making 14 unforced errors while winning only 13 points in the 23-minute set.

Jabeur, the No. 5 seed from Tunisia, is bidding for her second straight major final.

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7:20 p.m.

Ons Jabeur and Caroline Garcia are on the court in the opening match of the women's semifinals.

The fifth-seeded Jabeur is trying to reach her second straight Grand Slam final. Garcia, seeded 17th, is in a major semifinal for the first time.

That match was preceded by a moment of silence to commemorate the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

The winner will face either top-ranked Iga Swiatek or No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka for the title.

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6 p.m.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will play for a second straight U.S. Open men's doubles title after fighting off the Colombian team of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

The top seeds won 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (6) in a match that lasted 3 hours, 12 minutes.

That put the American Ram and Britain's Salisbury a win away from joining only Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde as teams to defend a U.S. Open men's doubles title in the professional era, dating to 1968. The Hall of Famers from Australia won in 1995 and 1996.

In Friday's final, Ram and Salisbury will meet the No. 2-seeded team of Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, who downed the third-seeded duo of Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 7-5.

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5:30 p.m.

The women's semifinals take place under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium, with Ons Jabeur facing Caroline Garcia in the opening match before top-ranked Iga Swiatek meets Aryna Sabalenka.

Swiatek is the only major champion left, having won her second French Open title this summer. She also reached the Australian Open semifinals and is 19-2 in Grand Slam tournaments this year.

The No. 6-seeded Sabalenka lost last year in the U.S. Open semifinals, which remains her best performance in a major.

Jabeur is bidding for a second straight major final, having made her deepest run yet at Wimbledon. The No. 5 from Tunisia is 5-0 in semifinal matches this season.

In the surging Garcia, she meets a player who has won 13 straight matches. Seeded 17th, the Frenchwoman's first career Grand Slam appearance will send her back into the top 10 next week.

The U.S. Tennis Association announced there would be a moment of silence before the first semifinal match “to commemorate the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.”

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More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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