Osaka, who wore a sequined waistcoat blouse and black mesh train over her layered yellow-brown and gold match dress in the opening round, arrived for the contest with Vekic in a white floor-length flared train over her outfit.

On another blazing day in Paris, the Japanese player traded breaks freely with Vekic in the opening set on Court Simonne Mathieu, before finding her best form during the tiebreak to prevail for the loss of only one point.

Djokovic seeks record 25th Grand Slam as French Open begins

Down a set, Paris Olympics silver medallist Vekic began to deploy a series of drop shots to trouble Osaka early in the second set but her challenge fizzled out as she surrendered her serve in the ninth game.

Osaka saved a break point in the next game to close out the win in one hour and 50 minutes, reaching the third round for the first time since 2019.

She will face 16th seed Iva Jovic in the third round, after the American beat compatriot Emma Navarro 6-0 6-3 earlier.

Similar crowds can be expected at Flushing Meadows on Sunday after the top-ranked Jannik Sinner ensured a scintillating title clash between the young torchbearers of men’s tennis by seeing off Canadian 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4.

It will be the pair’s third Grand Slam final meeting of the year, after Spaniard Alcaraz saved three matchpoints to keep his French Open title in June, before surrendering his Wimbledon crown to the Italian the following month.

Well before they cemented their status as superstars of the modern era, Alcaraz and Sinner had clashed in the U.S. Open quarter-final, where the Spaniard prevailed after five bruising sets before going on to win the title.

“I love these challenges. I love to put myself in these positions,” Sinner said.

“He’s someone who pushed me to limit, which is great, because you have the best feedback you can have as a player. We’ve faced each other quite a lot now lately, so things are getting a little bit different.

“It’s nice … it’s great for the sport having rivalries, having hopefully great matches.” Friday’s first semi-final was billed as the hottest ticket in New York and it lived up to the hype, with a scoreline that belied its intensity, as the 2022 champion Alcaraz soaked in deafening cheers on match point.

Wear and tear

Djokovic won their two most recent meetings, including in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open earlier this year, but the 38-year-old showed wear and tear against Alcaraz, 16 years his junior.

“It’s something that I’m working on, just the consistency on the matches, on the tournaments, on the year in general,” stated Alcaraz, who already has five major titles in his career as compared to Sinner’s four.

“Just not having ups-and-downs in the match. Just the level that I start the match, I just wanted to keep that level really high during the whole match.”

Djokovic dropped his serve when he sent a shot past the baseline in the opening game and was unable to set up a single break point chance in the first set, which Alcaraz closed out with an unreturnable serve.

Urged on by the celebrity-packed stands, the seventh seed got in the fight in the next set, sending over a superb backhand to convert on break point in the second game.

But Alcaraz had not dropped a set in New York and was not about to start as he put his foot on the gas, setting up a break point after surviving a 16-shot rally with one of his fine forehand winners and converting from the baseline.

Down 0-2 in the tiebreak, Djokovic outlasted his opponent in a cheeky exchange at the net before pausing to take in the roars of the crowd, a reminder of the Serb’s perennial appeal two decades after his Flushing Meadows main draw debut.

But the undeterred Spaniard kept his nerve, closing out the tiebreak with two more huge serves, before Djokovic gifted him a break point with an untimely double fault in the fourth game of the third set.

“It’s not easy playing against him, to be honest,” said Alcaraz, who hit twice as many winners as his opponent.

“I’m thinking about the legend, what he has achieved in his career. It’s difficult not to think about it. That makes facing him even tougher.”

The writing was on the wall for Djokovic as he hit another double fault on the penultimate point of the match and he leaned on the net, congratulating his opponent with a grin after handing over the contest with a wide forehand.

“It’s frustrating on the court when you’re not able to keep up with that level physically. At the same time, it’s something expected,” admitted Djokovic, who won the last of his four U.S. Open titles in 2023.

“It comes with time and with age.”

The U.S. Open action resumes on Saturday, with the women’s singles final, where American Amanda Anisimova aims to derail Aryna Sabalenka’s title defence while chasing a maiden Grand Slam title.

After a three-set first-round victory that Gauff described as a mental battle, the 2023 champion once again faced a tough test against Donna Vekic on Thursday before claiming a 7-6(5) 6-2 second-round win.

A flurry of errors and persistent serving struggles left the third seed on the brink of dropping the opening set, as she wept into her towel after surrendering her serve in the ninth game.

The 21-year-old later spoke about the moment, describing it not as embarrassment but as a reminder of her humanity under the sport’s brightest spotlight.

“It feels human. Being an athlete, people kind of disregard that side of us, the human side of things,” she told reporters.

“People say so many things, you know, you are number three in the world, and you’re doing this or you’re playing like this, and you should be better and things like that.

“When I’m out there in that moment, I kind of give into the pressures, but I feel like that’s normal. I feel like every pro athlete who’s been on the pedestal that I’ve been on has felt that pressure at some point in their career where they showed it publicly like I did or privately.”

The two-times Grand Slam winner added that what mattered most was not the breakdown itself but the way she recovered, cutting her unforced errors from 13 to five and slashing her double faults from seven to just one.

Alexander Zverev sweeps into US Open third round

“I have bad days, but I think it’s more about how you get up after those bad moments and how you show up after that.

“I think today I showed that I can get up after feeling the worst I’ve ever felt on the court.”

Gauff has been working on addressing her longstanding serve issues since arriving in New York, just days after parting ways with coach Matt Daly and enlisting biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan.

The Senate Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation which met here with Senator Khuda Babar, was briefed by the PPRA regarding amendment in Rule 12 of the Public Procurement Rules, 2014.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

Shah was chairing an important meeting held in the office of Secretary L G Sindh Roshan Shaikh.

The meeting was also attended by Mayor Sukkur Arsalam Shaikh, Special Secretaries Chiraghuddin Hingoro and Mohammad Taha, Secretary Procurement Committee Waseem Ahmed, Senior Director KMC Masood Alam, Director KMC Musheer Ahmed, Project Director Malir Express Way Niaz Soomro, PD CLICK Zubair Channa and M D Water Board Asad Ullah Khan.

The Secretary Local Government Roshan Shaikh briefed Nasir Shah about the completion of TORs for tendering the fire brigade vehicles and snorkels. Minsiter LG said that the tender mechanism must be accomplished as per the designed SOPs and transparency should be maintained during the whole process,

"Government of Sindh believes in providing every possible facility to its people. We want to continue the series of development works with keeping transparency the most priority".

Shah later chaired another meeting on the topic of development schemes in Sindh.

The minister was told that during the year 2020-2021 total 97 schemes will be completed in which 25 are of KW&SB, 63 belong to roads development and 6 will be the mega schemes.

Speaking to the participants of the meeting Shah said, "We are aimed to complete every development work with a mission to meet the international standards. We cannot compromise on the quality of work and material as we want to make the province a best place to live and work".

The minister urged the officials to avoid any sort of favoritism or discrimination while performing the duties.

The meeting was attended by women entrepreneurs from all the national chambers of the ECO member countries.

She also informed the delegates about digital fashion show to be conducted by the FPCCI. The FPCCI representative also spoke about promotion of Halal products. Nazli Abid also told the ECO meeting about the incentives being given by the government of Pakistan. She also emphasized on the need for business digitalization.

Nazli Abid also highlighted the services being provided by the FPCCI to facilitate the business community in the current situation.

She said the economy of Pakistan could not afford lockdowns hence business activities were being carried out with proper SOPs set in place.

Representatives of the ECO Secretariat and the ECO Bank also attended the meeting which was chaired by Moghemi, chairperson of the Council from Iran, who inaugurated the meeting and emphasized in her welcome address the need for intensifying interactions amongst the women entrepreneurs of the ECO region. Shabana Asif, sub-convener and SVP of East Women Chamber, and Farah Sheikh and Rabia Sheikh, EC members, also attended the meeting.

All the representatives of ECO CCI member countries - Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan - pledged to continue their efforts for promotion of regional trade.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index snapped a four-day winning streak to drop 1.95% to 7,042.9 by 0039 GMT.

In other key markets, Japan’s Nikkei shed 2.3% to 26,296.84 and S&P 500 E-minis futures were down 0.5%.

Global equities slumped after Britain and Canada’s high inflation numbers, and major US retailers’ slashed earnings forecasts brought to the fore the impact of surging prices and a threat of a recession.

Domestic technology stocks emerged as the top drag, shedding over 3%, with ASX-listed shares of Block Inc and accounting software firm Xero Ltd falling 2.8% and 4.2%, respectively.

Export-reliant mining stocks slipped over 2% after iron ore prices tumbled on fears that policies announced would not be enough to revive the COVID-19-battered Chinese economy.

Australia shares rise on miners, energy boost; Brambles sinks

Heavyweight miners BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group slid between 2.2% and 2.8%.

Financials lost 1.9%, hitting their lowest in a week.

All of the so-called “Big Four” banks declined. Energy stocks too lost over 2% as oil prices fell after data indicated US refiners ramped up output.

Santos Ltd and Woodside Petroleum Ltd lost 1.6% and 2%, respectively.

Bucking the trend, however, gold stocks inched 0.5% higher on firmer bullion prices. In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 1.5% to 11,086.86 points by 0039 GMT.