Friday, Sep 3, 2021. 3:58 PM
(Update : Saturday, Sep 4, 2021. 1:04 AM)
NEW YORK – A first-time US Open men’s title contender packed his bags on Friday.
Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, third seed in the tournament, was surprised by 18-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in five sets of 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-6 (5), in the third round.
Tsitsipas, who from the outset needed to tap into all his resources to defeat Briton Andy Murray in five sets, missed the opportunity to advance to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time in his career.
Alcaraz, who is competing at the US Open for the first time, recovered after a fourth round in which nothing was going well. In the fifth set tiebreaker, he had two mini-breakers to take a 6-3 lead and closed the books on his third match point.
“I was a little devastated after the fourth round, but I thank the crowd for encouraging me to surpass myself in the ultimate set,” said Alcaraz.
Alcaraz became the youngest player to reach the fourth round in New York since Pete Sampras and Michael Chang in 1989. He will now cross swords with German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk.
Tsitsipas performed in front of a rather hostile crowd, not least because of his long bathroom breaks – which Murray incidentally criticized earlier this week.
“I take my bathroom breaks like any normal athlete. I just changed my clothes on my break, said the Greek. Everything is against me for no good reason. “
Besides Gojowczyk, another qualifier reached the fourth round. It is the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp who got rid of the Argentinian Facundo Bagnis in four sets of 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.
Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman (no.11) will now have the opportunity to avenge his compatriot by facing van de Zandschulp in the next round. Schwartzman beat Slovakian Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 minutes after Alcaraz won.
Medvedev easily enters the round of 16
Russian and second seed Daniil Medvedev continued his rather easy run so far, winning 6-0, 6-4, 6-3 over Spaniard Pablo Andujar.
A 2019 New York finalist, Medvedev has lost just 22 games in three games since the tournament began.
Medvedev is 16-4 at the US Open.
In the next round, Medvedev will face Great Britain’s Daniel Evans (No 24), who made a spectacular comeback to triumph 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (1) against the Australian. Alexei Popyrin.
