Top-seeded Jannik Sinner averted the upset bug and cruised to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Christopher O’Connell in the third round of the US Open on Saturday in New York.
Unlike No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Carlos Alcarez, Sinner avoided being tripped up in the opening week of the final grand slam event of the year.
The 23-year-old Italian recorded 46 winners to just 22 unforced errors to dismiss the unseeded Australian and advance to the round of 16. He will meet 14th-seeded Tommy Paul, who posted a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (3) over Canada’s Gabriel Diallo.
“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.”
Paul had a 40-32 edge in winners, and his output of 50 unforced errors were far less than the 77 committed by Diallo. Fifth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev sailed to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.
Medvedev had a 9-2 edge in aces, a 33-18 lead in winners and saved six of nine break points.
Last US Open champion standing Daniil Medvedev moves past Cobolli
No. 10 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia had 56 winners while sailing to a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-0 victory over Daniel Evans of Great Britain. de Minaur had an 11-4 edge in aces. Evans had only 20 winners to go with 35 unforced errors – six fewer than de Minaur’s output.
Also, 25th-seeded Jack Draper of Great Britain recorded 13 aces in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.
Draper reached the fourth round of the US for the second straight year by besting van de Zandschulp, who bounced Alcaraz in the second round in a massive upset.
“After the match (against Alcaraz), it was a little bit crazy,” van de Zandschulp said. “You try to think about the next match but you get reminded a lot of the match the day before. So of course it was tough to play today after the last two days.”
Tomas Machac of Czechia earned a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Belgium’s David Goffin to advance to the fourth round. Machac will next face Draper. Jordan Thompson of Australia has nine aces without any double faults while delivering a 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over No. 30 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy.
Thompson will face countrymate de Minaur. Nuno Borges of Portugal outlasted Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 6-7 (5), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0.
Borges next faces Medvedev.