US Open this year, with Aryna Sabalenka beginning her third round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova after midnight a few days ago.
Despite all of the controversy surrounding the scheduling, Olympic champion Zheng appears to be embracing it all, “It’s always nice for me to play at the night session. I’m used to it.
“When I played in Palermo all the time I played really late. It’s my first time playing here in New York till two in the morning. That’s unbelievable. Thanks to the fans who are not sleeping tonight and supported me here.”
Zheng will now move onto the US Open quarter-finals for a second consecutive year, where she will take on the aforementioned second seed Sabalenka.Inside the baseline…Andy Murray is spot on here, you cannot be starting tennis matches this late and especially when you risk the chance of a three hour match. This can have a detrimental impact on the remainder of the tournament, with players involved in late finishes sometimes unable to recover. On another point it also does seem wrong for a best-of-three women’s night session match to follow a best-of-five men’s match, so that is also something that should be looked at.
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