Scenes from Queens, Day 5: Tommy Paul falls in five; Leylah and Sock play mixed doubles; the scene before Serena; Jabeur gives drop-shot advice

Casper Ruud wins one serious battle on Armstrong

NEW YORK—Casper Ruud and Tommy Paul couldn’t be more different. Sure, they play a similar basic game—one built around an explosive forehand wing—but it's in personality where the two sharply diverge.

Where Ruud presents unrelenting professionalism, Paul is an admittedly more laid-back type, slouching back in his chair as he marvels at the Norwegian’s unassailable work ethic.

“He’s a good player, man,” he says in his North Carolina twang. “Shit, he’s really turned everything upside down. He’s playing unreal, like a Top 5 player, legitimately. He’s on his shit and works very hard, a tough competitor.”

Ruud, by contrast, rarely adopts anything less than perfect posture in his pressers, but it was that sort of tension that nearly cost him on Louis Armstrong Stadium this afternoon: Up two sets to one with break points the fourth, the No. 5 seed blinked and a looser Paul leveled to the delight of a pro-American crowd.

Playing 15 sets in three matches ultimately caught up with Paul, who surely coveted the Roland Garros finalist’s discipline on the set points that went begging in the third. Ruud ran away with it, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-0.

Into the second week of the US Open for the first time, only lucky loser Corentin Moutet stands between the 23-year-old and a second major quarterfinal—having at last broken the duck in Paris.—David Kane

Congestion on the Lexington Line: Fernandez & Sock win in mixed

NEW YORK—“It’s tough being so short,” one fan told me, shaking his head as he watched me crane to catch a glimpse of Leylah Fernandez and Jack Sock on a packed Court 5.

Listen, I’m 5’4”, so I wouldn’t normally call myself short. But I can’t exactly take offense to the label, considering we’re both on our tiptoes toward the end of this mixed doubles match. Next to us, a teenager helps his younger brother, who looks about tween age, precariously climb onto his shoulders.

The crowd has ballooned tremendously since Kimberley Zimmerman and Tim Puetz began their second-set comeback, with fans eager for a deciding tie-break and a post-win selfie.

Courts 4, 5 and 6 are nicknamed the Lexington Line, a nod to the MTA’s name for the 4, 5 and 6 subway lines that run under Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. And much like the subway line itself (my local for about a year) they can get congested during peak traffic times—such as on Labor Day weekend, with the 2021 US Open finalist Fernandez taking the court with Sock, a 2011 mixed doubles and 2018 men’s doubles champion here.

If I close my eyes, I can actually follow the match between the unseeded teams better than if I try to stretch: overwhelming roars and bilingual cheers meet every Fernandez point and Sock, while the Belgian and German team gets its own respectable applause.

During the match tiebreak, the crowd calls out “Vamos Leylah” and “Come on Jack!” with increasing regularity. Fernandez and Sock, both decked out in head-to-toe Lululemon kits and matching On Running shoes, close out their opening mixed doubles match 6-2, 2-6, 10-5.

They will face Gabriela Dabrowski and Max Purcell in the Round of 16.—Stephanie Livaudais

The US Open’s Second Third is Underway

NEW YORK—We often speak of the Grand Slam tournaments—particularly if we’re talking about attending one of them—as having distinct first and second weeks. The first week is when you peruse the side courts for up-close viewing of players who will soon be in larger venues; for obscure, early-round matches that become standing-room-only marathons; for an unsung classic that starts at twilight and ends at midnight. The second week is when you see the game’s biggest names play in the largest stadiums during progressively more important rounds.

While such distinction exists at Flushing Meadows, I choose to view the US Open in thirds: the first and second rounds; Labor Day weekend; and the quarterfinals onward. Coming to the Open on Day 5 is a much different experience from even 24 hours earlier, and certainly when compared to the event’s first two days. Already, few side courts are staging main-draw singles matches, and those that do are typically jammed during this four-day, end-of-summer Tri-State congregation. The doubles and mixed events take on a larger role; this afternoon, Court 13 was relatively full for Jamie Murray’s doubles match (while brother Andy was battling on Ashe); there was a veritable queue to enter the Court 12 bleachers for Caty McNally and Taylor Townsend’s doubles match; and Court 5 was flooded with fans for Jack Sock and Leylah Fernandez, who teamed in mixed.

It all remains a great atmosphere, but it’s very different from Days 1-4. Labor Day weekend is when New York City and its suburbs really show up for the Open, both day and night, and you can feel it even while joining the crowds for even just a few minutes.

Tonight will be about Serena, and if the Open has its way, so will next week. Soon, today’s spread of tennis will be distilled onto just the main stadiums, and the overall focus will become more concentrated. But for right now, let’s enjoy Pedro Cachin and Corentin Moutet on Court 17. They won’t be there for much longer, and neither will the summer.—Ed McGrogan

A Colombian Davis Cup match breaks out…in Queens?

As you’d expect, fans at the US Open support U.S. players. What might surprise a first-time visitor is how much, and how loudly, they support players from other countries. Every other country. Chileans, Thais, Israelis, Irish, Argentines, Brazilians, Japanese, and many more: If a nation can send a player here, they’ll find an audience.

The South Americans are especially enthusiastic. Even U.S. players can end up feeling like they’re in an away match against, say, a Chilean opponent.

That’s also true, as we found out this year during the three-round run of Daniel Elahi Galan, of Colombia. The country has had a few Top 50 level men and women over the years, including Santiago Giraldo, Alejandro Falla, and now Camila Osorio. But Galan, in his wins over Stefanos Tsitsipas and especially Jordan Thompson, brought a whole new audience to the grounds.

Sporting Colombia’s yellow, blue, and red, they packed into Court 17 for Galan’s third-round match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Thursday morning. Collectively, they created a roar that could be heard on half the the other courts. Walking away from 17 and back to the press room, I heard one fan ask another, “What’s going on over there?” Who could inspire that much noise? Serena? Rafa? Andy Murray? “It’s Galan, the Colombian guy,” his friend answered.

Galan’s run ended against ADF, but the sound of his fans may still be echoing here. —Steve Tignor

Ons Jabeur gives some drop shot advice

NEW YORK—There’s nothing like a free instructional tip from a top pro, right? After Ons Jabeur’s three-set win over Shelby Rogers in Louis Armstrong Stadium on Friday, on-court interviewer Blair Henley asked the Tunisian to give the fans her best piece of advice for hitting a drop shot. Jabeur is a master of all things touch, and she turned the tables in this match with one of her trademark crosscourt drops in the second set, which left Rogers dumbfounded and even made the pro-American crowd roar.

What’s Ons’ secret? She told Henley that one key is to “Make it the opposite side of the court from where the player is running.” In other words, hit it where they ain’t. That way, she says, even if it’s a bad drop, your opponent won’t be right there waiting for it. That’s pretty good advice, really, for someone making it up on the spot.

We’ll see how well it serves Jabeur in her next match, against Veronika Kudermetova, and after that—maybe, possibly—Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.—Steve Tignor