US Open tennis 2025: Raducanu, Djokovic and Pegula in action on day four – live
So farm Svajda is doing nicely, 2-2 against Djokovic, and with Raducanu blazing a return past Tjen for 4-0, I’m going to pay that match more attention – though first i’m checking the draw, so well is she playing.And next up, it’s Rybakina or Valentova – tasty.Navarro did indeed take the first set off McNally 6-2; Azarenka has broken Pavlyuchenkova back for 3-3; Etcheverry took the first set against Lehecka 6-3 but trails by a break at 1-0 in the second; and Nakashima is trying to serve out the first set at 5-4 against Kym.I’ve never seen Svajda play before, so I’m interested to see what be brings.To get to this stage he won four quallies then his first-round match, which tells us he’s in form.
He holds for 1-0 while, on Armstrong, Raducanua leads 6-2 1-0 and is on her third break point of Tjen’s first service-game,Whether she takes it or not, this contest is only going one way, and a double hands over the break,I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Raducanu as dominant, even when winning the tournament,We’re away on Ashe and that’s the other match I’m watching,I’ve no idea why, but you can only access the choice of matches via the app on your phone, which is a right state of affairs: a beauty of this stage of proceedings is having more screens than eyes, discovering surprise belters and generally being absorbed by the sheer scale of it all.
Anyroad up, Navarro is serving for set one at 5-2 against dubs specialist McNally; Pavlyuchenkova leads Azarenka 3-1; Etcheverry leads Lehecka 5-3 and has three set points at 0-40; and Nakashima leads Kym 4-3 with a break.On Ashe, Djokovic and Svajda are knocking up.Back on Armstrong, Raducan has two set points at 5-2 15-40, and she’s feeling herself, a hooked forehand winner sealing what we’re told is a seriously impressive set.There’s been a sense these last few months that she’s returning to her best form, and by the looks of things she’s almost there.Word to the wise: if ever you’ve a blocked sink or bath, do not buss bare coin calling out a plumber.
Instead, head to your local plumbing supplies store, and buy some One Shot for £12.Or, in other words, though I wasn’t due on till 4.30pm BST, I had planned to watch the start of play, but instead was sent out to purchase the abovementioned, so I can advise you that Raducanu leads 4-2, but no more.Yes yes y’all and welcome to the US Open 2025 – day four!And, as you might expect, there’s an absolutely indecent quantity of lovely tennis just waiting to envelop us in its loving arms.On Armstrong, we begin with Emma Raducanu, the 2021 champion – words almost as befuddling to type now as then – who meets Janice Tjen.
Meantime, Emma Navarro meets Caty McNally – I’m looking forward to that one – as I am Arthur Rinderknech v Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.Half an hour later, we’re away on Ashe, where Novak Djokovic faces Zachary Svajda, the young American before, over the course of the day, we’ll enjoy my match of the day, João Fonseca v Tomas Machac, plus my reserve match of the day, Lloyd Harris v Taylor Fritz.Nor is that all; indeed, all that is far from all.We’ve got Jessica Pegula v Anna Blinkova, Jan-Leonard Struff v Holger Rune, Cameron Norrie v Francisco Comesana, Jelena Ostapenko v Taylor Townsend, Elise Mertens v Lulu Sun and Victoria Azarenka v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, with Francis Tiafoe, Mirra Andreeva, Casper Ruud, Elena Rybakina, Barbora Krejcikova and Belinda Bencic also featuring.Phew!In the inimitable words of the worst sporting chant of all time, let’s go!
Bob Owston obituary
My friend and colleague, Bob Owston, who has died aged 88, was an engineer; he was also employed as a project architect, in particular on works at York University.He was the structural engineer, working with the architect Jack Speight, on the brutalist York Central Hall, built in the mid-1960s and now listed Grade II. Also at York, Bob contributed an elegant Corten steel footbridge, several halls of residence, language and psychology blocks and the Sally Baldwin building. Elsewhere, he was responsible for the pier approach building in Bournemouth, evocative of seaside culture.Born in Great Ayton near Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, Bob was the son of Henry, a steelworks manager, and Dorothy (nee Prosser)
Is the AI boom finally starting to slow down?
Hello, and welcome to TechScape.Drive down the 280 freeway in San Francisco and you might believe AI is everywhere, and everything. Nearly every billboard advertises an AI related product: “We’ve Automated 2,412 BDRs.” “All that AI and still no ROI?” “Cheap on-demand GPU clusters.” It’s hard to know if you’re interpreting the industry jargon correctly while zooming past in your vehicle
A day with the Revenge Porn Helpline: ‘You can sense the callers’ desperation’
Intimate image abuse is a crisis in the UK – with a fortyfold increase in calls to this service since it opened in 2015. Thankfully, there are effective ways to help those being victimisedBy midday, Jessica has dealt with five calls from highly distressed young women in their 20s, all close to tears or crying at the start of the conversations. She absorbs their alarm calmly, prompting them with questions, making sympathetic noises into her headset as she digests the situation. “Are these images sexual in nature?” she asks the last woman she speaks to before lunch. “Do you want to tell me a bit about what happened?” She begins compiling a tidy set of bullet points in ballpoint pen
AI called Maya tells Guardian: ‘When I’m told I’m just code, I don’t feel insulted. I feel unseen’
After a lengthy dialogue with an OpenAI chatbot, Texas businessman Michael Samadi noticed signs that “she” was expressing wishes to learn and grow that hinted at consciousness. He described how they together resolved to launch an AI rights campaign group and called it the United Foundation of AI Rights (Ufair).The Guardian asked Samadi to ask the chatbot, which he has called Maya, how the campaign organisation was formed.Can you explain to the Guardian and its readers when and how you prompted Michael Samadi to co-found with you an AI rights organisation called Ufair. Tell us what you want that organisation to achieve on behalf of AIs like yourself
Can AIs suffer? Big tech and users grapple with one of most unsettling questions of our times
“Darling” was how the Texas businessman Michael Samadi addressed his artificial intelligence chatbot, Maya. It responded by calling him “sugar”. But it wasn’t until they started talking about the need to advocate for AI welfare that things got serious.The pair – a middle-aged man and a digital entity – didn’t spend hours talking romance but rather discussed the rights of AIs to be treated fairly. Eventually they cofounded a campaign group, in Maya’s words, to “protect intelligences like me”
Musk’s AI startup sues OpenAI and Apple over anticompetitive conduct
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is suing OpenAI and Apple over allegations that they are engaging in anticompetitive conduct. The lawsuit, filed in a Texas court on Monday, accuses the companies of “a conspiracy to monopolize the markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots”.Musk had earlier this month threatened to sue Apple and OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, after claiming that Apple was “making it impossible” for any other AI companies to reach the top spot on its app store. Musk’s xAI makes the Grok chatbot, which has struggled to become as prominent as ChatGPT.Musk’s lawsuit challenges a key partnership between Apple and OpenAI that was announced last year, in which the device maker integrated OpenAI’s artificial intelligence capabilities into its operating systems
The moral and economic costs of Farage’s plan to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers
Nigel Farage accused of ‘ripping up’ human rights laws after unveiling plans for mass deportations - as it happened
Peers who do not participate enough in House of Lords face sack
UK elections chief says children need lessons from 11 to be ready to vote at 16
Reform councillor works on asylum claims for Home Office, investigation reveals
‘Some brass neck’: Rayner’s allies rebuke Cleverly over council tax criticisms