Shelby Rogers Beats Ashleigh Barty at the U.S. Open

The final point, though, came on a strong serve by Rogers that overwhelmed Barty, and her backhand block went wide. Rogers dropped her racket and put both hands to her face. She picked up the racket, went to the net to shake hands with Barty and the chair umpire, and then flung it to the side again and raised her arms to the crowd, half in triumph, half in disbelief.

Her next opponent is the exciting British teenager, Emma Raducanu, in the fourth round.

A year ago, when Rogers was still working her way back from knee surgery, she reached the quarterfinal stage here. She lost to Naomi Osaka, the eventual champion, in a stadium that was empty because of coronavirus restrictions. But fans are back in attendance at full capacity this year, and Rogers took advantage.

“The crowd has taken it to another level this year,” she told them on court.

“I’m thankful that I couldn’t hear myself breathing as heavily as I did last year in the empty stadium,” she said. “But, gosh, that was really something special. I got chills out there on the court. I don’t know if that’s normal when you’re playing a tennis match, but it happened. I will never forget that moment.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/04/sports/tennis/us-open-ashleigh-barty-shelby-rogers.html