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Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic each fell in a stunning opening-week loss at the US Open. Jannik Sinner refused to suffer the same fate on Saturday.

The top seed cruised past Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows. It is the fourth consecutive year in which he has advanced that far in New York.

"Everything can happen in this sport, so I try to stay on my side of the net and I'm trying to take [the tournament] day by day," Sinner said in his on-court interview. "Each opponent is a very tough challenge and [I am] also enjoying every moment on the court. There have been already a couple of upsets, so let's see what's coming.

"But I'm very happy to still be here and hopefully I can play as many matches as possible. But as I said, we go day by day and then we'll see how it goes."

Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' ?

Rock and roll tennis World No. 1 @janniksin as he seals a fourth round spot in New York. @usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/csy8PkCVaO

Jack Draper advanced to the fourth round at the US Open for the second year running with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win Saturday over Botic van de Zandschulp.

The Briton converted five of his eight break points to seal victory over the Dutchman, who defeated Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round. Draper also hit 13 aces en route to defeating the 28-year old in their first matchup, closing out the win in two hours, 14 minutes.

The 22-year-old reached a career high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 22 in August. He won his maiden ATP Tour title at the BOSS OPEN earlier this year, defeating Matteo Berrettini 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in the final.

Victory over the Dutchman ensures that Draper has equalled his best run at a Grand Slam, which came in 2023 when he also reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows. This is his third consecutive main-draw appearance in New York.

Draper will go on to face Tomas Machac in the next round. Machac overcame former Nitto ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 in one hour, 34 minutes to advance to the fourth round for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament. Machac was clinical as he converted seven break points en route to sweeping past the Belgian.

Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Maria Mateas are playing for more than just a trophy in the US Open mixed doubles draw. The dating partners are competing to stay together longer.

Mateas, who also played in women’s qualifying singles, was scheduled to fly to Europe on Saturday to continue her journey. But the wild cards defeated Fabrice Martin and Alexandra Panova 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 on Friday to remain in the draw and, more importantly, by one another’s side.

“This means we get to spend more days together too, because there are tournaments right around the corner,” said McDonald, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the first round of singles. “Our days being on Tour, both of us, it's a lot. So we cherish every moment we get together.”

The partners of two and a half years simultaneously said “I hope so” when asked if Mateas might have to miss a tournament because of their efforts in New York.

Both players’ smiles lit up the US Open media centre. Their excitement was unmistakable.

Alexei Popyrin’s victory against Novak Djokovic at the US Open may have come as a seismic shock to many, but it did not come as a huge surprise to the man himself.

Popyrin believes that his big-hitting game has always had the potential to trouble the game’s elite. Rather, stringing high-level performances together consistently has been the challenge for the 25-year-old, whose straight-sets victory against Djokovic inside Arthur Ashe Stadium came just 18 days after he earned a stunning maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Montreal.

“For me, winning Montreal was way bigger than today, just because it's a title, and it's a Masters 1000 title,” reflected Popyrin after his 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win against Djokovic on Friday night. “That felt unbelievable. Today was something that I kind of thought I could do, you know? Winning a Masters 1000 was not something that kind of crossed my head.

“My two experiences against [Djokovic] earlier this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon kind of gave me the confidence to go out there tonight and believe that I could win, and actually do it and believe it. So when I did it, it kind of felt that proved me right, proved what I was thinking was right. It wasn't something that was unbelievable.”

Having pushed Djokovic to four sets earlier this year at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, Popyrin was delighted with the way he improved mentally to get over the line this time around.

Alexander Zverev was given a high-powered test by Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Friday night at the US Open. Despite some early struggles, the fourth seed dialled in to notch his 100th Grand Slam match win.

Zverev prevailed 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 on Louis Armstrong Stadium to reach the fourth round for his fifth consecutive appearance in New York (2019-21, 2022-23). The German had trailed by a set and a break at 5-7, 2-4 but from there he broke Etcheverry’s serve seven times to complete a three-hour, 36-minute win.

R4 ? @AlexZverev gets past Etcheverry 5-7 7-5 6-1 6-3.@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/l2TWwddqba

With a 100-34 Grand Slam record, Zverev is the first man born in 1990 or later to hit the 100-win milestone at the majors. The 27-year-old, who has won a Tour-leading 55 matches in 2024, reached one of his two Grand Slam finals in New York in 2020. His other major championship-match appearance came at Roland Garros earlier this year.

Zverev will take on a home favourite next in New York in Brandon Nakashima. The 23-year-old upset 18th seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time. Zverev leads Nakashima 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, including a second-round win during his 2020 New York final run.

Francisco Comesana defeated Ugo Humbert, the No. 17 in the PIF ATP Rankings, on Wednesday and then fell on his back in celebration. But he quickly bounced back up, for two good reasons.

"The court was really hot!" he explained with a laugh after his victory on a day that featured temperatures of nearly 40-degrees Celsius. The second reason he returned to his feet was because of his mother, Adela.

Comesana's second-round triumph in his US Open debut was the perfect birthday gift to his mother. He shouted ‘Happy birthday!’ before embracing Humbert at net. Then, Comesana headed to the stands on Court No. 7 and gave Adela a hug.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that I beat the World No. 17,” Comesana said in Spanish. “I’m still thinking about my mother’s emotional birthday. It’s really amazing that we can experience this as a family. After suffering so much, we’re all really happy.”

In July, the Argentine reached the third round at Wimbledon, where he opened the tournament by upsetting sixth seed Andrey Rublev. Now he is back in the Round of 32, in only his second major.

The clock read 35 minutes before Carlos Alcaraz hit his first winner of the night. He needed 55 minutes more to get the break that would open his account for the evening. The Spaniard bowed out of the US Open in the second round at the hands of Botic van de Zandschulp after two hours and 19 minutes during Thursday's late session inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Throughout the match, the No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings frequently pointed to his head, gesturing to his team that this essential part of his game was not running altogether smoothly.

And that was exactly where the Murcia native was pointing minutes after bowing out to the Dutchman. It was honest. It was raw. It was clear and unapologetic.

“Right now, I feel like I’ve taken steps backwards mentally and I don’t understand why,” admitted a serious-looking Alcaraz in Spanish as he sat before the media in the US Open press conference room. “I’ve had a spectacular summer at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. I left those tournaments saying that I’d taken a step forward mentally. I’d realised that to win big things, to win Grand Slam titles, you have to be mentally strong.

“Now I’ve reached this swing and I’ve taken steps backwards, like I’m not doing well mentally, I’m not strong. I don’t know how to control myself when faced with problems and I don’t know how to handle it. I have to see exactly what happened, or what’s going on with me.

Poland's Hubert Hurkacz and coach Craig Boynton have split, Boynton announced on social media Friday.

“What a special ride these past five years have been,” Boynton wrote. “We have experienced so many unbelievable highs and have grown so much together, however, sometimes good things must come to an end. Hubi and I have mutually agreed to go our separate ways. So grateful for our time together. I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life and the opportunities that will come.”

Hurkacz has won all eight of his tour-level titles under the tutelage of Boynton, including two ATP Masters 1000 crowns (2021 Miami, 2023 Shanghai). When their partnership began in March 2019, Hurkacz, then-World No. 67, reached the Indian Wells quarter-finals in their first event together. Five months later, Hurkacz won his first ATP Tour trophy in Winston-Salem.

The 27-year-old rose to a career-high World No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings this month. He boasts a 39-17 season record, with his best result being a title run in Estoril.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

Novak Djokovic made abundantly clear his disappointment with his level after a stunning third-round loss to Alexei Popyrin on Friday at the US Open.

“Congratulations to him and his team. He definitely played better and deserved to win today,” Djokovic said. “On my end, honestly, the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament, third round is a success. I mean, I have played some of the worst tennis I have ever played, honestly, serving by far the worst ever.”

Djokovic hit a stunning 32 double faults in his three matches at Flushing Meadows, including 14 against Popyrin (his record high for a Slam match). The 24-time major champion dropped serve five times against the Australian.

“If you play on a quick surface like this without the serve, without [the] ability to win free points there, very low first-serve percentage, many double faults, then you can't win,” Djokovic said. “You can't win, especially against the guys who are in form like Alexei who is serving big, puts a lot of pressure on your service game. Yeah, it was just an awful match for me.”

Earlier this month, Djokovic surged to one of the highest highs of his career at the Paris Olympics, where he produced a memorable performance to defeat Carlos Alcaraz for the gold medal. But the Serbian, who did not play a hard-court tournament before arriving in New York, never found the same level at the season’s final major.

Australian Alexei Popyrin unleashed his brand of Big-Man Tennis to stun Novak Djokovic at the US Open Friday night, ousting the defending champion 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 on the back of 50 winners.

Djokovic was the partial author of his own demise, serving a career-high 14 double faults in a Grand Slam match, including four to hand Popyrin a double break at 5-2 in the fourth set. That insurance break proved crucial as the Australian was broken in his first attempt to serve out the match but closed it out two games later.

It was the second shocking upset in as many days on Arthur Ashe Stadium, following World No. 74 Botic van de Zandschulp’s straight-sets win over 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz in the second round.

“Third time lucky [this year] I guess,” Popyrin said. “Honestly, we had some battles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. I had my chances in those matches, but didn’t take them. This match was a little different. I was able to take my chances when I had them and played some good tennis.”

“It’s unbelievable because I’ve been in the third round about 15 times in my career, but I haven’t been able to get past to the fourth round,” Popyrin said. “To be able to do it against the greatest of all time to get into the fourth round is unbelievable. It’s a great feeling and the hard work has paid off.”

David Goffin has reached the second week at every major, climbed to No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings, made the championship match at the Nitto ATP Finals and claimed six ATP Tour titles. The 33-year-old Belgian has nothing to prove and at the end of last season, sitting outside the world’s Top 100, contemplated his future.

“I was like, ‘Oof, what am I doing? I am playing so bad. I cannot hold my racquet anymore. What do we do now? Is it enough for me or not? Can I do it physically? Am I still as fast as before? The endurance, is it still there or not? The tennis, am I too late?’” said Goffin, who was struggling with his knee at the time. “I don’t know. A lot of doubts.”

The Belgian was not battling for tour-level titles, but spots in main draws. Was it worth fighting for that? Goffin had a decision to make.

“I still have the feeling that I have good tennis in my racquet," Goffin thought. "I just want to show and prove to myself that I can still do it.”

The four-time major quarter-finalist is showing that this week at the US Open, where he is into the third round. It is the first time he has advanced that far at this event since 2020, when he claimed an electric four-setter against Adrian Mannarino in the fourth round.

Wimbledon champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten advanced into the third round of the US Open Friday with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Flavio Cobolli and Dominic Stricker.

The sixth seeds won 91 per cent of first-serve points to overcome their opponents in 66 minutes.

The pair are fifth in the PIF ATP Rankings Doubles Race and are vying for their second successive Grand Slam after their nail-biting 6-7(9), 7-6(8), 7-6(9) victory at Wimbledon over Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson. They have won two ATP Tour titles this year in Marrakech and Lyon.

Heliovaara and Patten will face either Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic or Brazilians Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo in the third round.

Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni also progressed to the next round with a narrow 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over all-American pairing Robert Cash and JJ Tracy. The Argentinians crucially broke at 5-4 up in the deciding set to seal victory in 2 hours, 19 minutes.

The upset of the year began in an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. Botic van de Zandschulp and his team enjoyed a meal Wednesday evening at the same restaurant they’ve been going to throughout their stay in New York. Little did they know the next day their world would be flipped upside down like pizza dough.

Van de Zandschulp stunned four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday evening in the second round of the US Open for the biggest win of his career. According to his coach, Peter Lucassen, there was not much different for the Dutchman compared to the typical match.

“Honestly, [we were] just going over the same things. Watching the film, and a lot was about his own game, his own mentality, his own mindset out there. That was the biggest thing,” Lucassen said. “I think Botic could control that and wanted to control that, so that was the biggest thing. And of course, playing somebody like Alcaraz, he knew he had to bring his best, and I think that's what he did. He did a great job of that, controlling everything that he can do really well.”

Thursday morning, van de Zandschulp went to the gym, which is typical for the 28-year-old the morning of an evening match. The No. 74 player in the PIF ATP Rankings travelled to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center later in the day, when he practised inside Arthur Ashe Stadium at 6 p.m.

“The way he warmed up already there on Ashe, he was hitting the ball great. He was moving great. He was controlling himself really well, so it was great to see,” Lucassen said. “And he was open-minded, so that was all good.”

Frances Tiafoe completed a piece of US Open revenge in tense circumstances on Friday afternoon in New York.

Bidding to avoid defeat to Ben Shelton for the second year in a row at the hard-court major, Tiafoe rallied to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 third-round victory against his countryman after four hours and three minutes inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Played out in front of an electric New York crowd basking in the brilliant shotmaking of their countrymen, the match ended with Tiafoe pointing to the court after his handshake with Shelton mouthing the words, ‘This is my f#&*% house, This is my f#&*% house.’

The pulsating match delayed the start of the night session on Ashe, with defending champion Novak Djokovic set to take on recent Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin. Tiafoe will play the winner.

“First off, I gotta say, Ben’s an incredible player. He really is,” Tiafoe said. “He goes for all kinds of shots, he’s got no care in the world, it’s really annoying. He’s got a great serve. He has great energy out here.

Nuno Borges defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in straight sets on Thursday to reach the third round of the US Open for the first time. The Portuguese star, who made the fourth round at this year's Australian Open, will now face #NextGenATP Czech Jakub Mensik for a place in the second week of the season’s final major.

“I'm feeling pretty good. I think things have been going really smooth,” Borges said. “I know the results look a little bit like that, but during the match, a lot goes on in your head, and it wasn't as straightforward as it seems, but I'm really happy.

“My last two Slams weren't that great, and a new opportunity came. Happy to be in the third round. It feels amazing. It's been a really good year. I haven't been able to come this far in the U.S., and it's a Slam that means a lot to me.”

ATPTour.com caught up with Borges to learn why he loves New York and find out more about his hobbies and personalities off the court.

If you could go to dinner with three people, who would they be and why?
Three people I have admired a lot. I'll choose Roger [Federer] because he's my tennis idol. I'll choose LeBron [James] just because he's an amazing athlete. I wish I could get to meet him, and then I don't know, Elon Musk, the richest guy. I think it could be cool. Gotta go big, right?

The first all-Top 10 meeting of the 2024 US Open has been set.

Grigor Dimitrov and Andrey Rublev wasted little time securing third-round victories at the hard-court major on Friday afternoon, when the ninth-seeded Dimitrov defeated Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 and sixth seed Rublev overcame Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. The pair will now face off in the fourth round in New York, their first Grand Slam meeting since the 2018 Australian Open.

Dimitrov did not face a break point in his 99-minute win against Griekspoor. The 33-year-old, a US Open semi-finalist in 2019, has not dropped a set across his three matches so far at Flushing Meadows. He will hope to replicate his good form to avenge his straight-sets defeat in his only previous US Open meeting with Rublev in 2017.

Say hello to the last 16, Grigor ☎️@GrigorDimitrov will face Rublev for a place in the quarter-finals in New York after he defeated Griekspoor in straight sets! @usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/4ay0ao7cB8

After engineering a stunning comeback from two sets down in his second-round match against Arthur Rinderknech, Rublev reverted to doing things the easy way to seal his fourth-round spot. The No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings won 89 per cent (48/54) of points behind his first serve to move into a 3-2 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Lehecka.

Jimmy Arias first met Shang Juncheng when the Chinese player was competing in the 12-and-under clay-court national championships in Orlando, Florida. Arias, the former No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings who is now Director of Player Development at IMG Academy, was commentating on the match, which ‘Jerry’ won.

“Jerry killed the guy, like one and two, and I had to interview him after the match,” Arias told ATPTour.com. “At that age, he was actually a bit bigger, stronger than the kid he was playing against. What has always stood out to me with Jerry is he is very Marcelo Rios-like in the control of the ball that he has.”

That is high praise from someone who has been around the best players in the sport for decades. Rios is one of only 29 players who has reached World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

One year later, Shang moved to the IMG Academy and has been on the rise ever since. The third-placed player in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah will face 2022 finalist Casper Ruud in the third round of the US Open on Friday to reach the second week of a major for the first time.

This week last year, Shang was World No. 178. But his team, led by coach Martin Alund, fully believed he would soar in 2024. Arias recalled a conversation he had with Alund ahead of the season.

Carlos Alcaraz’s unexpected second-round defeat at the US Open has presented Jannik Sinner with a big opportunity to extend his advantage in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.

Sinner (7,100 points) holds a healthy 1,090-point lead over second-placed Alcaraz in the Live Race, which is also an indicator of who is in the running to finish as ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF. After Alcaraz fell to a shock second-round defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp on Thursday night, the World No. 1 Sinner knows he could extend his Live Race lead from Alcaraz to 2,990 points by lifting the trophy at the hard-court major.

Pure SINNER-MA ?

World No. 1 @janniksin notches his 50th win of the season with a scintillating 6-4 6-0 6-2 demolition job over Michelsen! @usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/kEEpyCCSs4

With Alexander Zverev still alive in the New York draw, Sinner must still reach his maiden US Open semi-final to guarantee he remains in top spot once the hard-court major is done. If Sinner loses in the fourth round or at the quarter-final stage, the third-placed Zverev could claim the Live Race lead by claiming his maiden major title. The German will jump above Alcaraz into second if he reaches at least the quarter-finals.

PIF ATP Live Race To Turin

The Continental grip is one of the most versatile grips in tennis, used for a variety of shots. Here's a detailed look at this grip: How to Hold the Continental GripGrip Position:Place the base knuckle of your index finger on bevel 2 of the racket handle (for a right-handed player; bevel 1 for a left-handed player).Your palm should be placed more o...

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos became the second doubles team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday when they advanced to the second round of the US Open. The 2024 season finale will be held in Turin from 10-17 November.

Granollers and Zeballos have now qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals in five consecutive seasons. Last year they made the championship match and in 2020 and 2021 they advanced to the knockout stage.

The Spanish-Argentine duo has dominated at ATP Masters 1000 events this season, tallying a 22-4 record at the level so far. The veterans have claimed both of their titles this year at Masters 1000 tournaments — Rome and Montreal — and reached at least the semi-finals at all seven tournaments.

Granollers and Zeballos have proven a consistent force in 2024, reaching the final in Auckland, Buenos Aires and Indian Wells. They also advanced to the semi-finals at two majors: Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

The first-placed team in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings is 39-11 this season and trying to secure Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours for the first time. Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic became the first team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday.