Nadal hits nose with racket, tops Fognini | US Open updates

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

12:35 a.m.

Rafael Nadal has come back to win at the U.S. Open after cutting himself on the bridge of his nose when his racket bounced off the court and smacked him in the face against Fabio Fognini.

Nadal was bleeding and took a medical timeout. A trainer put a bandage on his nose.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion won the second-round match 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

They started Thursday night and finished after midnight.

Play resumed after about a five-minute delay when Nadal hurt himself on the first point of a game with Nadal leading 3-0 in the fourth set.

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12:20 a.m.

Rafael Nadal was cut on the bridge of his nose when his racket bounced off the court and smacked him in the face during the fourth set of his second-round match at the U.S. Open.

Nadal was bleeding and took a medical timeout. The 22-time Grand Slam champion layed down on his back on the sideline while being treated by a trainer.

Fognini went over to check on Nadal.

Play resumed after about a five-minute delay.

It happened on the first point of a game with Nadal ahead at 3-0 in the fourth set.

He was moving to his right when he hit a backhand and his racket deflected off ground and caught him on the nose. Nadal immediately grimaced, dropped his racket and put his right hand to his face. Then he placed both hands on his head, before going over to the sideline.

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9:40 p.m.

Serena and Venus Williams were eliminated by the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the first round of women’s doubles.

Arthur Ashe Stadium had never hosted a first-round doubles match until this one featuring two American sisters who have combined to claim 14 Grand Slam titles in doubles but were partnering for the first time since the 2018 French Open.

The 17-year-old Noskova was making her Grand Slam doubles debut. The 37-year-old Hradecka won two major doubles trophies with a different partner.

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8:40 p.m.

Serena and Venus Williams will have to come from behind to say in the women’s doubles tournament.

The sisters lost the first set in a tiebreaker, with Lucia Hradecka and Linda Noskova taking it 7-5.

The Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and decided to play together again after Serena said she was preparing to end her tennis career.

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7:50 p.m.

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the No. 2-seeded team, have been knocked out in the first round of the women’s doubles.

The team of 2021 U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez and Daria Saville knocked off the Americans 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5).

Gauff and Pegula were the runners-up at the French Open and the 18-year-old Gauff recently became the second-youngest player to reach No. 1 in the WTA doubles rankings.

Gauff also reached the U.S. Open final last year with partner Caty McNally.

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7:25 p.m.

Serena and Venus Williams are back on the doubles court together for their first match in four years.

The 14-time Grand Slam doubles champions are facing the Czech team of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova.

With Serena Williams preparing to end her tennis career, the sisters decided to play again in this tournament they have won twice. Venus served first to open their match.

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5:30 p.m.

Nick Kyrgios has been fined $7,500 for unsportsmanlike conduct during his second-round victory Wednesday.

Kyrgios was warned after using profanity toward someone in the stands. It appeared the Wimbledon runner-up was yelling at someone in his own box, telling the person to be more supportive or leave.

The temperamental Australian also complained to the chair umpire about the smell of marijuana during the second set.

The fine was the highest given to a player at the tournament thus far.

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5 p.m.

It will be Friday night under the lights for Serena Williams.

Williams’ third-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic has been scheduled to open the night session in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday. Williams has played in the same spot on the schedule for both matches thus far in what could be the final tournament of her career.

Top-ranked Daniil Medvedev will follow against Wu Yibing, the first Chinese man to win a U.S. Open match in the professional era, which began in 1968.

Andy Murray opens day play on Ashe against No. 13 seed Matteo Berrettini, followed by a meeting between Americans Coco Gauff and Madison Keys.

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4:40 p.m.

No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz beat Federico Coria of Argentina 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 to reach the third round.

Alcaraz earned his 46th win of the season, tying Stefanos Tsitsipas for the ATP Tour lead. Tsitsipas was eliminated in the first round of the U.S. Open.

Coria ended Alcaraz’s first professional tournament by eliminating him in the second round in Rio de Janeiro in 2020. Since then, the 19-year-old from Spain has rapidly climbed the world rankings while winning four titles this year.

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2:30 p.m.

American Jenson Brooksby earned a spot in the third round by upsetting No. 25 seed Borna Coric 6-4, 7-6 (10), 6-1.

Brooksby reached the fourth round last year at age 20, taking a set from Novak Djokovic before falling. He was the youngest American to get that far since Andy Roddick reached the 2002 quarterfinals at the same age.

Coric just won the hard-court tune-up in Cincinnati, but Brooksby pulled away after winning the 77-minute second set in the tiebreaker.

Brooksby will play No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz or Federico Coria on Saturday.

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2 p.m.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek had no trouble with Sloane Stephens, beating the 2017 U.S. Open champion 6-3, 6-2 to move into the third round.

In her WTA Tour-leading 50th win of the season, Swiatek easily handled her first match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, breaking Stephens’ serve four times.

Stephens fell to 0-10 against No. 1-ranked players.

Other early winners included No. 8 seed Jessica Pegula, No. 13 Belinda Bencic and three-time U.S. Open finalist Victoria Azarenka.

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11:55 a.m.

No. 1 Iga Swiatek will have to overcome past U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens to avoid becoming the next top woman out of the U.S. Open.

Rafael Nadal will need to beat the first player ever to come back from two sets down to beat him in a Grand Slam match to continue his unbeaten season in the majors.

Nadal will face Fabio Fognini in the nightcap at Arthur Ashe Stadium, after Serena and Venus Williams play their women’s doubles opening match. Fognini beat the four-time U.S. Open champion in New York in 2015.

Afternoon play on Ashe was set to begin with Swiatek facing the 2017 champion in Flushing Meadows. Already, No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit — who lost to Serena Williams on Wednesday — and No. 3 Maria Sakkari are out, along with past champions Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu.

Men’s No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz was set to follow the Swiatek-Stephens match against Federico Coria.

The first round of the doubles tournaments began Wednesday and continued Thursday. The Williams sisters were to play the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova.

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