Defending champion Novak Djokovic adopted Carlos Alcaraz out of the US Open in one other seismic shock in New York because the 24-time Grand Slam champion was crushed by Australian twenty eighth seed Alexei Popyrin on Friday night time.
Lower than 24 hours after third seed and 2022 champion Alcaraz crashed out of the match to Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, Djokovic was dethroned by 25-year-old Popyrin 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4.
Chasing a record-extending twenty fifth main title, Djokovic was taking part in his first match since successful the gold medal on the Paris Olympics.
However the Australian, who secured his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Montreal earlier this month, outmuscled 37-year-old Djokovic with a fearless model of tennis to seal the largest win of his profession below the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The final time Djokovic didn’t style Grand Slam glory in a season was in 2017 as he suffered his earliest loss at Flushing Meadows since 2006.
Frances Tiafoe overcame Ben Shelton in an exhilarating all-American conflict, with the twentieth seed twice coming from behind to win in 5 units.
Each gamers have reached the semi-final stage at Flushing Meadows beforehand, with Shelton doing so final 12 months when beating Tiafoe within the final eight.
However Tiafoe gained revenge over the 21-year-old this time spherical, battling again to beat the thirteenth seed 4-6 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 in a match lasting over 4 hours.
Shelton, who held a 2-0 head-to-head file going into the competition, despatched down 23 aces and 63 winners within the contest, nevertheless it wasn’t to be sufficient, with Tiafoe securing a fourth-round assembly with Popyrin.
Tiafoe: I hope you loved the present
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Shelton hit the quickest serve of the match, clocked at 143mph on set level…
Frances Tiafoe, chatting with Sky Sports activities courtside:
“Ben is an incredible player. He really is. He goes for all kinds of shots, he has no care in the world, and it’s really annoying. He has a great serve and great energy out here.
“He is actually proficient, comes up with nice pictures, and so can I. We each transfer rather well and it is simply spotlight after spotlight.
“I hope you enjoyed the show, four hours of this.”
Henman: Tiafoe by no means blinked, deserves win
Sky Sports activities’ Tim Henman:
“Tiafoe deserves all the credit in the world. When he lost that third-set tie-break, you wondered whether his chance was over. But he kept that focus, kept that quality and got back on level terms.
“When he obtained that decisive break of serve within the fifth set, he by no means blinked. He completely deserves to be by way of to the fourth spherical.”
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Shelton and Tiafoe placed on a present in a dramatic rally, which ended after the latter simply touched the web
What else occurred on the US Open?
Bulgarian ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov carved out a cushty 6-3 6-3 6-1 win over Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor to arrange a fourth spherical showdown with Russian Andrey Rublev.
American twelfth seed Taylor Fritz comfortably noticed off Argentina’s Franciso Comesana with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win to advance to the fourth spherical the place he’ll meet Casper Ruud.
The former finalist and eighth seed fought again from two units all the way down to beat Shang Juncheng 6-7 (1-7) 3-6 6-0 6-3 6-1.
Brandon Nakashima got here from 4-0 down within the fourth set to assert a shock 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over Italian 18th seed Lorenzo Musetti and attain the fourth spherical for the primary time.
What’s arising on Sky Sports activities Tennis in September?
- Jasmin Open, Tunisia – WTA 250 (9-15 September)
- Guadalajara Open, Mexico – WTA 500 (9-15 September)
- Korea Open – WTA 500 (16 -22 September – with Emma Raducanu in motion)
- Thailand Open – WTA 250 (16 -22 September)
- Chengdu Open, China – ATP 250 (18-24 September)
- Hangzhou Open, China – ATP 250 (18-24 September)
- China Open – WTA 1000 (Sept 25 – Oct 6)
- Japan Open – ATP 500 (Sept 25 – Oct 1)
- China Open – ATP 500 (Sept 26 – Oct 2)
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Discover out all of the methods to look at tennis on Sky Sports activities, together with the US Open, ATP and WTA excursions
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