Taylor Fritz continued his bonecrushing run through the first week of the US Open Friday, gatecrashing the 18th birthday of Czech Jakub Mensik with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 win on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Fritz has reached the last 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time in eight appearances, dropping just 13 games en route. The World No. 9 will next play #NextGen ATP Swiss Dominic Stricker, who by contrast has played 14 sets to reach the second week of a major for the first time.

“It’s so important,” Fritz said of his comfortable passage to the fourth round. “My body is going to be feeling a lot better than someone who’s had a couple of five setters back-to-back, so it’s always something you’re looking for when you’re looking to make a deep run at a Slam, to get through these matches without too much fatigue.”

World No. 206 Mensik is fast developing into a heavy-hitting force, but it was an assertive Fritz who stamped his authority on the match from the outset by dictating with his serve and forehand and giving his young rival a lesson in focus and intensity.

Fritz won 30 of 33 points on his first serve, did not face a break point and clipped 25 winners to Mensik’s six. He has not dropped serve during the tournament.

Reflecting on his maiden run to the second week at Flushing Meadows, Fritz said, “It’s more of a relief than anything. I’ve been wanting this and expecting it for a while. It does feel really good to be in the second week for the first time and we’re looking for a lot more.

“It’s never easy playing these early-round matches when you’re the favourite and there’s more pressure on you and you’re expected to win. It feels great to play these three matches and get through them the way I’ve been getting through them. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.”

In the first round Fritz defeated countryman Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 and also dropped just five games in the second round against Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas, winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. He has faced (and saved) just three break points during the tournament.

Fritz and 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev own a Tour-leading 34 hard-court match wins on the season. The No. 1 American suffered a shock opening-round loss to countryman Brandon Holt last year at Flushing Meadows.

A US Open boys’ champion in 2015, Fritz is now 48-19 on the year with titles in Delray Beach and Atlanta and is in strong contention to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second consecutive year. He sits eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Last year’s semi-finalists Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer continued their US Open run on Friday when they defeated Matteo Arnaldi and Bart Stevens 6-2, 6-3.

The fourth seeds, who triumphed at Roland Garros together in 2022, dropped just one point on first serve to advance after 61 minutes. Arevalo and Rojer will next face Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara or Robert Galloway and Albano Olivetti in the third round.

Top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski overcame 2019 champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-3 in two hours and 36 minutes. The Colombian duo Cabal and Farah were competing in their final major before retirement. They will finish their careers with a Davis Cup clash against Ukraine and an ATP Challenger Tour event in Bogota in September.

The Dutch-British team Koolhof and Skupski, who won the Wimbledon title in July, next play Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow. The Americans, who won their third tour-level title of the season together in Winston-Salem last week, defeated Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek 7-6(3), 6-4.

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden downed Andrey Golubev and Roman Safiullin 6-3, 6-3, while Britons Julian Cash and Henry Patten beat Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys 7-6(3), 6-3. Sixth seeds Bopanna and Ebden play Cash and Patten in the third round.

The 2015 champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeated Jamie Murray and Michael Venus 6-4, 6-4. The French team will next meet Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos after the eighth seeds moved past Lloyd Harris and Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 6-4.

If you are left-handed, you best hope you don’t have to play Frances Tiafoe.

The 10th-seeded American extended his winning streak against lefties to 19 on Friday when he defeated Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(6) in the US Open third round. The last time Tiafoe lost to a lefty was in 2021, when he fell to Liam Broady in Eastbourne.

A semi-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, Tiafoe was dialled-in on serve, firing 15 aces, to move past the 22nd seed Mannarino. After dropping the opening set, the 25-year-old found greater consistency from the baseline and attacked Mannarino’s flat backhand to improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the Frenchman.

“I played a loose game early in the first set and then after that, I thought I was a better player even though I lost the set, had a tonne of break points. I was definitely finding my rhythm, so I just used that as confidence and kept going,” Tiafoe said. “I was super mad that I gave back a break in the fourth [set] and made it real complicated for myself in the end. But I got it done and feels good to be in the fourth round.”

Tiafoe failed to convert his first six break points of the match before earning an advantage in the sixth game of the second set. Competing this fortnight at a career-high World No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Tiafoe displayed impressive shotmaking and deft feel around the net to advance after two hours, 54 minutes. An entertaining fourth set featured four breaks of serve and both players eager to move forward and dictate points.

“He is so annoying to play,” Tiafoe said of Mannarino. “He’s just bunting the ball around, it’s so slow. You look at him like, ‘Man, what is he doing?’ But it is so effective, the ball stays so low. He makes you create and makes you want to feel like you have to overplay. He defends really well, so he is super tough and obviously has a great lefty serve. I’m happy the match is over and I won. He is super annoying to play.” 

Tiafoe, who is 13th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, is the first American since Andre Agassi (2002-05) to reach at least the fourth round in New York for four consecutive years. The three-time tour-level titlist will next have a first-time meeting with Australian Rinky Hijikata.

The Maryland native is the third American to reach the fourth round of their home Slam this week, joining 14th seed Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton. American No. 1 Taylor Fritz and wild card Michael Mmoh are also aiming to book their ticket to the round of 16.

Mannarino, 35, was aiming to reach the fourth round at a Slam for a fifth time. The World No. 35, who won the ATP 250 event in Newport in July, slipped to 0-21 against Top 10 players at majors.

Wild card Hijikata overcame Chinese star Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a thrilling three-hour, 10-minute battle. The 22-year-old struck 54 winners to 36 unforced errors, advancing to his maiden major fourth round after a baseline slugfest in front of a raucous Court 17 crowd.

The 26-year-old Zhang, who was coming off back-to-back five-setters, including an upset against last year’s finalist Casper Ruud, needed six set points in the third set to extend the match. In the latter stages, the former University of North Carolina standout Hijikata appeared the fresher of the two as he stayed patient in rallies to pull away from Zhang.

The Sydney native is at a career-high No. 80 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, setting him up for his Top 100 debut following the season’s final major.

Jackson Withrow is into the third round of the men’s doubles event with partner Jackson Withrow. But no matter what happens on the court the rest of the fortnight, Withrow has already won.

On Monday, the former Texas A&M standout got engaged to his fiancée, Allie Sweeney. Fittingly, their story began at the US Open three years ago.

The 2020 tournament was played in a bubble because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Withrow met Sweeney when she was working at the player services desk.

“I wanted to focus on my tennis for a long time and had the goal coming here with a coach and ended up getting distracted a little bit by a girl at the player desk,” Withrow told ATPTour.com. “I was trying to figure out what her deal was… I got her number and ended up just texting a little bit here and there. But now that we’re here three years later, full circle, engaged this past Monday, it’s a pretty beautiful story.”

Jackson Withrow and Allie Sweeney” />
^{Photo Credit: Olivia Wenzel Photography}
Plans for Withrow’s engagement first began last November and in February, he asked Sweeney’s parents for their approval. But despite the urge to pop the question earlier, he held out until this week.

“I wanted New York to be special and New York’s always been a special place for me,” Withrow said. “It’s the first time I made a [major] quarter-final here with Jack [Sock] and this place has always felt like home. I wanted to bring that feeling towards us and what that meant for our relationship.

“It’s so tough, because you don’t want to be cliché and make it a tennis proposal. She played college tennis, and I wanted to at least make it separate from the tennis aspect. I wanted us to have our moment, but also for it to be a special place. New York is that special place for us.”

Withrow’s on-court success further complicated his plans. Lammons and Withrow won their third title of the season in Winston-Salem, so he arrived in New York relatively late. Monday, he finally got to the big moment.

“It was a funny story. I ended up blowing by the spot where I was supposed to do it. And the photographer texted me saying, ‘Oh, you missed it, come back.’ So now I was making this excuse to come back,” Withrow said. “Finally, the spot that we had this picture was on this rock right next to the water in Central Park and I originally missed the rock. I almost fell into the water. So I was like man, that would have made a pretty funny first start of how I was going to ask her to marry me.”

After the best possible start to the week, Lammons is excited to see what the rest of his US Open holds.

“I was joking about it yesterday with our families and stuff. I was like, ‘Man, if we were to go deep here, have a semis or even maybe hoist the trophy, I may have to put the engagement on the backburner as best moments of being in New York,’” Withrow joked. “But at the end of the day, I think there’s things that you get to appreciate and I’ve gotten to appreciate tennis more, because Allie has been such a big part of my tennis.

“I’ve never really dated a tennis girl. And I always kind of wanted to separate the two and now that she’s been involved with my tennis, she gets on court with me, she’s amazing with that stuff. I really trust her with my game and being able to kind of use her as a person that I kind of really trust. And she has been amazing.”

Lammons and Withrow will next play top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski. In the Winston-Salem final, the Americans defeated Skupski and Lloyd Glasspool. Although they have tried not to look at the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, they are currently in 10th place and making a push to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

“Now that we feel like we’ve been a staple on the tour this year and have our proven results, we feel confident,” Withrow said. “And we’re just trying to ride the wave a little bit.”

Jack Sock’s career came to a close on Thursday at the US Open, where he lost his first-round men’s doubles match with John Isner and opening mixed doubles match with Coco Gauff.

It has been 13 years since Sock played his first US Open as a professional in 2010 and the American has accomplished plenty since. To honour Sock, ATPTour.com looks at five notable stats from his illustrious career.

Jack Reached The Top 10 Singles & Doubles
Sock cracked the Top 10 in both the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings. In November 2017 he reached a career-high World No. 8 in singles and in September 2018 he ascended to World No. 2 in doubles.

The Nebraska-native spent several weeks in the Top 20 of both disciplines simultaneously. The American also earned the distinction of finishing the 2017 season as the No. 1 player from his country.

American Won An ATP Masters 1000 Title To Qualify For Nitto ATP Finals
The defining moment of Sock’s singles career came at the end of 2017. He entered the Rolex Paris Masters, the season’s final ATP Masters 1000 tournament, at 24th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To London (the Nitto ATP Finals was played in London at the time).

Sock, the 16th seed in the tournament, trailed Kyle Edmund 1-5 in the deciding set of his first match of the week. After surviving that close encounter, he went on to win his first title at the level, ousting Lucas Pouille, Fernando Verdasco, Julien Benneteau and Filip Krajinovic for the crown. With his victory, he qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, where he defeated Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev to qualify for the semi-finals.

He Won Four Major Doubles Championships
Sock earned four major doubles titles as a professional in his career. In 2014, he emerged victorious at Wimbledon with Vasek Pospisil and in 2018 he lifted trophies at SW19 and Flushing Meadows with Mike Bryan. The American also claimed mixed doubles glory with Melanie Oudin at the 2011 US Open.

Sock Captured Two Olympic Medals
The American suffered a first-round exit in singles at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but finished with one of the most impressive performances of the entire event. Sock partnered Bethanie Mattek-Sands to the gold medal in mixed doubles and Steve Johnson to the bronze medal in men’s doubles. He was the only tennis player to earn multiple medals at the event. 

He Ended Roger Federer’s Career
For the rest of his life, Sock will be able to tell his friends and family that he defeated Roger Federer in the Swiss’ final match. At the 2022 Laver Cup, Sock and Team World partner Frances Tiafoe defeated Team Europe’s Federer and Rafael Nadal 4-6, 7-6(2), 11-9.

Sock excelled in doubles at Laver Cup, where he tallied a 9-3 record across four editions of the event. His victories came against teams including Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Daniil Medvedev will go to bed in the wee hours of Friday morning glad that he navigated through a late-night test in the US Open second round.

The third seed defeated Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-2, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 to capture his 250th hard-court victory and reach the third round of the season’s final major, where he was crowned champion in 2021. Medvedev had two match points at 6/4 in the third-set tie-break before the 29-year-old O’Connell won four consecutive points, two of which were double faults from the World No. 3.

Aiming for his second major title this fortnight, Medvedev was nearly at his best in the opening two sets, displaying all-court coverage and pinning O’Connell with depth on his groundstrokes. Medvedev did not give up a point behind his first serve until 4-1, 40/15 in the second set. But a third-set surge from the Sydney native forced the World No. 3 to regain focus and stay on court until 1:10 a.m. to reach the third round.

“Tough match. I don’t know why, but at one moment in the match he decided to play better,” joked Medvedev in his on-court interview. “I played the same from the first point to the last. It became much tougher for me, so I’m happy that I was able to still hang in there. I had opportunities in the third set, and I managed to use them in the fourth.”

O’Connell recovered from a break down in the third set by taking earlier cuts at the ball and hitting less slice than he did in the first two sets. He also moved forward more frequently to put pressure on Medvedev, implementing several serve-and-volleys.

The 27-year-old Medvedev quickly responded to a frustrating end to the third set, reverting to consistency from the baseline to avoid any further drama on Louis Armstrong Stadium. After three hours, three minutes, Medvedev converted his fourth match point to improve to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with World No. 69 O’Connell, who was aiming to reach the third round of a major for the second time this year (Wimbledon).

“When you get frustrated, you never know. You could lose your concentration and the match could become much tougher, or like today, I felt like maybe it helped me a little bit,” Medvedev said. “In general, I felt like it was a great match to play, honestly.”

Putting on a show 🤩 @DaniilMedwed@usopen | #USOpwn

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— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 1, 2023

Pursuing a second major title this fortnight, Medvedev will next look to end Sebastian Baez’s 12-match winning streak in their first meeting.

Medvedev, who is a 20-time tour-level titlist, boasts a 51-11 match record this season, claiming four of his five trophies this year on hard courts. He is the 15th active player to record 250 career hard-court wins (tour-level) and the first under age 30.

Baez advanced after Brazilian qualifier Felipe Meligeni Alves retired with the Argentine leading 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4. At a career-high No. 27 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, the 22-year-old Baez is into the third round of a major for the first time. He arrived in New York following two consecutive tour-level titles: Kitzbühel and Winston-Salem.