No. 1 Jannik Sinner dodges upset bug, reaches US Open 4th round

NEW YORK — Jannik Sinner by no means gave his third-round opponent on the US Open on Saturday, Christopher O’Connell, even a second to ponder pulling off the form of monumental upset that eradicated Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

“It exhibits that this sport is unpredictable. Everytime you drop a bit little bit of your degree — if it is psychological, if it is tennis-wise or bodily — on the finish, it has a big impact on the consequence,” Sinner stated. “Each opponents who they misplaced towards, they performed some unbelievable tennis. And it occurs.”

To not the No. 1-ranked Sinner, who’s abruptly the favourite to win the boys’s championship at Flushing Meadows. He gained the primary 5 video games and 21 of the primary 29 factors to make fairly clear how issues would go at Arthur Ashe Stadium and wrapped up a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over O’Connell in beneath two hours.

“I felt like he was on from the get-go,” O’Connell stated. “I felt a bit bit clueless, to be trustworthy. … Each single shot, I simply felt like I needed to do one thing with it, as a result of he was simply on me. He was suffocating me.”

Stepping on court docket lower than 15 hours after Djokovic’s loss to Alexei Popyrin and two days after Alcaraz’s loss to Botic van de Zandschulp, Sinner was as dominant as could be in each aspect. With 23-time main champion Serena Williams watching from an Ashe suite, Sinner struck 15 aces. He by no means confronted a break level. He gained 5 of O’Connell’s 12 service video games. He completed with greater than twice as many winners, 46, as unforced errors, 22.

“The very best tennis participant I’ve ever performed, for positive,” the 30-year-old O’Connell stated.

The one previous males’s champion on the US Open nonetheless within the bracket, 2021 winner Daniil Medvedev, defeated No. 31 Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Medvedev, the No. 5 seed, will face Nuno Borges, who was a degree away from elimination at 6-3 in a fourth-set tiebreaker, then rallied to beat Jakub Mensik 6-7 (5), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0.

“For positive did not anticipate to have this within the fourth spherical when Novak and Carlos are right here,” Medvedev stated of the remaining area. “So, it is a enjoyable feeling from one aspect, however from the opposite aspect it is a new match. I have to play my greatest to attempt to win it once more.”

Borges is the second Portuguese man for the reason that Open period started in 1968 to make the spherical of 16 in New York, becoming a member of João Sousa in 2018. Borges performed faculty tennis at Mississippi State and was the ITA Nationwide Participant of the 12 months in 2019. He is certainly one of two former faculty gamers left on the boys’s aspect, together with Brandon Nakashima (Virginia).

Since dropping the primary set he performed in New York, towards Mackenzie McDonald — which additionally was the primary set Sinner had performed since information emerged of a doping case that concerned two constructive checks in March for hint quantities of a banned anabolic steroid — the 23-year-old from Italy has carried out impeccably, dropping a complete of 18 video games throughout 9 units.

Attempting to gather his second Grand Slam title of the yr after gaining the primary of his profession on the Australian Open in January, Sinner will face No. 14 Tommy Paul of the US within the fourth spherical on Monday. Paul defeated Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

“He is an awesome mover. He has improved loads within the final time frame. It’ll be a troublesome problem,” Sinner stated about dealing with Paul, a 2023 Australian Open semifinalist. “He performs some nice tennis, particularly right here in America.”

“We have had some nice matches,” Paul stated. “I keep in mind I performed him on clay, had some match factors towards him. Then the final match, I believe it was in Toronto, he performed superior. I did not really feel like I did an excessive amount of flawed. He type of took the racket out of my arms. I am positively going to try to, you realize, make it uncomfortable for him.”

Maybe there was wariness on Sinner’s half heading into Saturday, given latest occasions. That is solely the third time within the Open period (the others have been in 1973 and 2000) that two of the highest three-seeded males have been gone earlier than the fourth spherical.

So Sinner awoke as the person thought of likeliest to win the US Open, a standing that belonged to No. 3 Alcaraz — the champion on the French Open and Wimbledon this season — earlier than the match started. No. 2 Djokovic — the defending champ and proprietor of a males’s-record 24 main trophies — moved atop the chances when Alcaraz was despatched house Thursday night time, solely to relinquish that after his personal early exit Friday night time.

The 87th-ranked O’Connell harbored hope of manufacturing yet one more shock, even when he is by no means overwhelmed a member of the highest 10 or been previous the third spherical at a Slam.

What Van De Zandschulp and Popyrin did allowed O’Connell to dream of manufacturing one thing related towards Sinner.

“I felt like he was on from the get-go. I felt a bit bit clueless, to be trustworthy. … Each single shot, I simply felt like I needed to do one thing with it, as a result of he was simply on me. He was suffocating me.”

Christopher O’Connell on dealing with Jannik Sinner at US Open

“I imply, yeah, I’ve obtained to consider,” O’Connell stated, “however I simply felt that he was actually on hearth.”

There’s something fairly tough about attempting to observe up one career-best win with one other, and Van De Zandschulp did not actually present up on Saturday, eradicated by No. 25 Jack Draper 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Draper, a 22-year-old left-hander from Britain, by no means has been previous the fourth spherical a serious, and neither has his subsequent opponent, unseeded Tomas Machac, a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 winner towards David Goffin.

“After the match [against Alcaraz], it was a bit bit loopy,” Van De Zandschulp stated. “You attempt to consider the subsequent match however you get reminded loads of the match the day earlier than. So after all it was powerful to play in the present day after the final two days.”

In different males’s singles outcomes from Saturday, Jordan Thompson of Australia took down Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi, the No. 30 seed, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

ESPN Stats & Data and The Related Press contributed to this report.