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A18 SPORTS
Thursday 5 sepTember 2019
Italy’s Berrettini edges Monfils at US Open for 1st Slam SF

By HOWARD FENDRICH rain came during the third
AP Tennis Writer set. Monfils, who is 10 years
NEW YORK (AP) — Matteo older, fell to 2-7 in major
Berrettini describes his men- quarterfinals and could be
tal coach as a big help and forgiven for wondering how
a best friend. They’ve been many more chances he’ll
speaking on the phone be- get.
fore and after every match Berrettini, meanwhile, is
during Berrettini’s run to his on top of the world at the
first Grand Slam semifinal. moment. With Corrado
They’ll have a lot to chat Barazzutti, Italy’s only other
about when it comes to this male semifinalist at the U.S.
latest victory. Open, back in 1977, in the
Berrettini, a 23-year-old stands Wednesday, Berret-
from Rome, gave Italy a tini used his big forehand to
spot in the final four at the produce 24 winners. He’s
U.S. Open for the first time found an Italian restaurant
since 1977 in dramatic fash- he loves on Manhattan’s
ion, double-faulting away Matteo Berrettini, of Italy, falls to the court after winning the fifth set tie break for victory against Gael Lower East Side, so has
his initial match point and Monfils, of France, during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships Wednesday, been eating there through-
then needing four more Sept. 4, 2019, in New York. out the tournament, and
to finally put away 13th- Associated Press even had someone who
seeded Gael Monfils of game, plus another two in Diego Schwartzman in the Bencic on Thursday, when works there in his guest box,
France 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 the deciding tiebreaker, of- semifinals Friday. The other the other semifinal is Serena wearing a shirt festooned
(5) after nearly four hours ten doubling over between men’s semifinal that day Williams against No. 5 Elina with the word “Carbon-
in Arthur Ashe Stadium on points to rest and catch his is No. 5 Daniil Medvedev Svitolina. ara.”
Wednesday. breath. against unseeded Grigor Like Berrettini and Medve- The first match point came
“One of the best matches I “A very bad day for me, Dimitrov, who beat an in- dev, Bencic also reached while Berrettini served for
ever saw. I was playing, but serving,” Monfils said. jured Roger Federer in five her first Grand Slam semi- the win at 5-3 in the fifth.
I was watching, also,” Ber- Berrettini acknowledged sets on Tuesday night to be- final. She followed up her Two more came and went
rettini said with a grin dur- the obvious afterward, to, come, at No. 78, the low- upset of defending cham- when Monfils served at 6-5.
ing his on-court interview. saying he felt “a little bit est-ranked semifinalist at pion and No. 1 seed Naomi A fourth was erased by an
In truth, the denouement tight.” the U.S. Open since 1991. Osaka by taking the last ace by the Frenchman in
was hardly a thing of beau- You think? Nadal, the last member four games of a 7-6 (5), 6-3 the tiebreaker. But on the
ty, with both men, clearly It all was a bit of a whir. of the Big Three stand- victory over No. 23 Donna fifth, Berrettini’s serve was
spent, fighting themselves “Right now, I don’t remem- ing because Federer and Vekic . returned long by Monfils.
and the tension of the mo- ber any points, just the (last) Novak Djokovic are out “I felt like I couldn’t get Berrettini stared at the ball
ment as much as the guy match point, you know?” of the draw, was to meet three good points togeth- as it descended, making
on the other side of the net. he said. “I remember also Schwartzman on Wednes- er,” Vekic said. “I was, like, sure it did, indeed, land out,
Monfils finished with 17 dou- the double-fault; I have to day night. That followed playing one point good, so that he would, in fact,
ble-faults but managed to be honest.” the last women’s quarter- then bad.” be moving on. He dropped
avoid any throughout the Berrettini, who is seeded final, between No. 15 Bi- Berrettini-Monfils began on to his back, spreading his
entire, exhausting fifth set 24th, will get a day to re- anca Andreescu and No. a muggy afternoon and limbs, then ripped off his
until he served at 6-5 — and cuperate: He will face No. 25 Elise Mertens. That win- concluded with Ashe’s re- hat as he rose to pound his
then he had three in that 2 Rafael Nadal or No. 20 ner takes on No. 13 Belinda tractable roof shut after chest.q
Connecticut Sun star raising money for her native Bahamas

By PAT EATON-ROBB so that when the storm get is trying to dry off our
AP Sports Writer does pass, people have a family photo albums, wip-
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — way to get over it and get ing away the water from
Connecticut Sun forward back to their daily lives.” the Kodak prints,” she
Jonquel Jones is raising Jones said she and the wrote. “And for a min-
money for her native Ba- other organizers of the ute, it worked — and you
hamas after the destruc- page are deciding which could see all these memo-
tion from Hurricane Dorian. relief organizations will re- ries again. And then the
Jones has set up a page ceive the funds. image would slowly fade
on the crowdfunding site She moved from the Ba- to black. We lost years of
GoFundMe , hoping to hamas at 14 to pursue our history as a family, and
raise $50,000 for the ar- basketball in the United that’s why I work so hard
chipelago. She donated States. Jones recently to really remember things
$10,000 and the page had wrote about her experi- how they were, because
just under $20,000 in dona- ences in the Bahamas for that’s all we got now.”
tions early Thursday. In this Aug. 14, 2019, file photo, Connecticut Sun forward The Players Tribune , in- Jones is averaging more
In a video posted to the Jonquel Jones grabs a rebound against the Phoenix Mercury cluding having the roof of than 14 points and nearly
page, the player said during the second half of a WNBA basketball game in her home peeled back by 10 rebounds for the Sun
Phoenix.
her family is OK and “in a Associated Press Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (22-9), who clinched a
good situation.” and finding fish swimming WNBA playoff spot. They
“We’re just hoping and continues to be safe,” only thing we can do is be in her living room. host the Dallas Wings on
praying that everyone Jones said. “Right now the proactive and try to give “The thing I’ll never for- Wednesday night.q