James Duckworth Breaks Sonego Code at Winston-Salem Open
James Duckworth finally cracked the Lorenzo Sonego code in Winston-Salem, and he did it with the timing of a man who knows a grand slam is just around the corner.
The Australian, long frustrated by the Italian, swept into the quarterfinals of the Winston-Salem Open with a 7-5, 6-3 win that carried the feel of a small but significant reckoning.
Third time, finally lucky
Sonego had been a genuine roadblock for Duckworth. Wimbledon 2021: straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to the Italian on the grass of the All England Club. Eastbourne 2022: another sting, this time in a pair of tiebreaks after Duckworth had taken the opening set.
Two meetings, two defeats, same opponent, same surface.
This time, on the hard courts of an ATP-250 in North Carolina, the script flipped. Duckworth, ranked 79 in the world and already assured of a place in the US Open main draw, needed one hour and 44 minutes to not only beat Sonego but shut the door on every hint of a comeback.
He broke serve twice. He stared down three break points and survived them all. The margins weren’t huge, but the control was. Each hold under pressure felt like a small exorcism of those grass-court losses.
For a 34-year-old whose career has been punctuated by injury and interruption, this was more than a routine win in a lead-up event. It was a clean, composed performance that arrives at exactly the right moment, with Flushing Meadows looming.
Marozsan awaits, New York on the horizon
The reward is a quarterfinal against 15th seed Fabian Marozsan, the Hungarian who recovered from a poor start to beat American wildcard Martin Damm 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Marozsan brings variety and confidence; Duckworth brings form, revenge in his back pocket, and the security of knowing his US Open spot is locked in. The stakes in Winston-Salem are not just about a semifinal berth. They’re about rhythm, belief, and walking into New York with a live game.
Hijikata blown away by Bonzi
If Duckworth’s day carried the glow of redemption, Rinky Hijikata’s was over almost before it started.
Benjamin Bonzi dismantled the Australian 6-1, 6-1 in just 57 minutes, a scoreline that accurately reflected the gulf on the day. Bonzi barely missed. Hijikata barely had time to breathe.
The Frenchman landed 96 per cent of points behind his first serve, a suffocating statistic in any match, let alone one so short. He converted five of seven break points, pouncing whenever Hijikata’s level dipped, and never offering a foothold in return.
Hijikata’s push for the last eight didn’t so much fade as get ripped away from him.
Ups and exits in the draw
Elsewhere in the draw, Britain’s top hope this week, number four seed Arthur Fery, moved through with minimal fuss. He brushed aside qualifier Mees Rottgering 6-3, 6-3, a tidy, businesslike win that keeps his campaign on track.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, though, is gone.
The seventh seed was bundled out 6-3, 7-6 (1) by American Aleksander Kovacevic, a result that strips the event of one of its headline names but opens up a section of the draw for those willing to grab it.
Duckworth is one of them.
He arrived in Winston-Salem with a main-draw ticket to the US Open already in his pocket. Now he has something just as valuable: momentum.
