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Both defending champions at the US Open, Rafael Nadal and Sloane Stephens, have advanced to the second week of the tournament after contrasting third-round victories on Day 5.
Nadal, who didn’t drop a set in any of his first two matches, had to pull out all his fighting qualities to overcome a determined Karen Khachanov in four sets in his longest match ever at Flushing Meadows, clocking in at four hours and 23 minutes.
Khachanov took the opening set 7-5 after acing the Spaniard eight times, including on set point.
The Russian then had the chance to go two sets up when he served for the second set at 5-4, but the Spaniard broke back and then took the next two games to level the match at one set apiece.
The 32-year-old Spaniard would then take the next two sets, both in tiebreaks, to claim a four-set win and advance to a fourth-round showdown against Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, who he defeated for the loss of just one game when the pair met at Roland Garros last year.
Elsewhere, a frustrated Dominic Thiem had to come from a set down to defeat American Taylor Fritz, while last year’s beaten US Open finalist Kevin Anderson was taken the distance against Canadian Denis Shapovalov but nonetheless prevailed in five.
The final match on Arthur Ashe Stadium saw third seed Juan Martin del Potro defeat Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in straight sets in a match that didn’t finish until just after 12:30am local time. His next match will be against Croatia’s Borna Coric, who won the boys title here in 2013.
Meanwhile, another former boys champion, Omar Jasika, has copped a two-year ban from tennis after reportedly testing positive for cocaine during a drug test last December.
The 21-year-old was contesting qualifying for this year’s Australian Open when the results came back.
(Photo by Glyn Kirk / AFP).
In the women’s draw third seed and reigning champion Sloane Stephens was made to work hard for victory as she fought off the determined challenge of former world number one Victoria Azarenka.
Don’t let the straight-sets scoreline fool you one bit – the American had led 3-1 in the second set before Azarenka reeled off three games to take a 4-3 lead.
However, Stephens showed just why she is ranked third in the world, winning the final three games to progress to a fourth-round appointment with Elise Mertens.
Ukrainian Elina Svitolina also advanced, while Ashleigh Barty broke her third-round grand slam curse by defeating Karolina Muchova in straight sets and booking herself a showdown against former world number one Karolina Pliskova, a straight-sets winner over Sofia Kenin.
But the highly-anticipated all-Williams showdown didn’t unfold as many expected it to, with Serena losing just three games in an embarrassingly one-sided match to advance to the fourth round, where she will next face Kaia Kanepi.
Kanepi, the first-round victor against world number one Simona Halep, continued her giant-killing run by defeating Swede Rebecca Peterson in straight sets.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
It promises to be a super Saturday at Flushing Meadows with the highlight being the highly-anticipated clash between five-time champion Roger Federer and Australian showman Nick Kyrgios in the latest instalment of their short rivalry.
While it will be their fourth meeting overall, it will be their first at grand slam level, meaning it will be a whole new ball game, and Kyrgios will have his work cut out tackling Federer inside the biggest stadium in world tennis.
Other matches will see Maria Sharapova look to preserve her undefeated record in night matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium when she takes on former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, while two-time champion Novak Djokovic is up against Richard Gasquet.
Fifth seed Petra Kvitova is up against rising Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka, while Angelique Kerber will face Dominika Cibulkova in a rematch of their 2016 WTA finals championship match, won on that occasion by the Slovak.
Another Australian, Alex de Minaur, will also have his work cut out taking on 2014 champion Marin Cilic on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Day session – play starts at 2:00am AEST
Madison Keys [14] (USA) vs Aleksandra Krunic (SRB)
Nick Kyrgios [30] (AUS) vs Roger Federer [2] (SUI)
Night session – play starts at 9:00am AEST
Maria Sharapova [22] (RUS) vs Jelena Ostapenko [10] (LAT)
Novak Djokovic [6] (SRB) vs Richard Gasquet [26] (FRA)
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Day session – play starts at 1:00am AEST
Kiki Bertens [13] (NED) vs Marketa Vondrousova (SVK)
Dominika Cibulkova [29] (SVK) vs Angelique Kerber [4] (GER)
Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs Alexander Zverev [4] (GER)
Night session – play starts at 9:00am AEST
Petra Kvitova [5] (CZE) vs Aryna Sabalenka [26] (BLR)
Marin Cilic [7] (CRO) vs Alex de Minaur (AUS)
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