Daniil Medvedev took a sledgehammer to Sebastian Baez’s 12-match winning streak inside Arthur Ashe Stadium Saturday night, defeating the diminutive Argentine 6-2, 6-1 7-6(6) at 1:30 a.m. to power into the fourth round of the US Open.

Standing 6’6” to Baez’s 5’7”, Medvedev leveraged his decisive physical advantage and big-match experience to dominate the contest in the first two sets. He looked beyond comfortable in extended backhand-to-backhand exchanges and while Baez matched Medvedev’s forehand strikes – especially in the third set – he authored his own demise with 55 unforced errors and by converting just two of 12 break point chances.

“I felt like we were both playing well, even in the first two sets. I was just a little better on important points, everything was going my way,” Medvedev said. “Third set he raised his level just a little bit to make the match even tougher. A bit of luck and some good play from me kept me in the set and it’s good to not finish at 4 (a.m.).”

After a subdued opening two sets, Baez took the fight to Medvedev in the third, hitting bigger forehands and coming to net 17 times, nearing the 18 total net visits he made in the first two rounds.

Baez led 5-2 in the third set but his momentum was halted by a 10-minute delay for light rain. When play resumed Medvedev broke to get back on serve at 4-5, fended off one set point in the following game, and dug out of a 0/30 hole in his next service game. Baez made a number of tired unforced errors at key moments, including at 6/6 serving in the tie-break.

The former World No. 1 will now try to snap a two-match losing streak against Alex de Minaur, although he leads the Australian 4-2 overall in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Other than dropping the third set of his second-round match, Medvedev has been in strong form in New York, shrugging off modest lead-in form in Toronto and Cincinnati, where he went 3-2 during the North American ATP Masters 1000 hard-court events. He dismissed Hungary’s Attila Balazs 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and Christopher O’Connell 6-2, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 in the second round.

Medvedev leads all players on Tour since 2018 for hard-court titles (18), finals (27) and match wins (231).

Medvedev has already won a personal-best five titles on the season, including the Miami Open and his first crown on clay, at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. He also reached the final in Indian Wells.

World No. 32 Baez, who won his only hard-court lead-in tournament in Winston-Salem, had won 12 consecutive matches dating back to his clay-court title in Kitzbuehel.

Rinky Hijikata has been one of the breakthrough stars of the US Open, advancing to the fourth round at a major for the first time.

The former North Carolina Tarheel has enjoyed special moments at Flushing Meadows in the past, including his debut last year when he played Rafael Nadal and won a set against the Spaniard. The reigning Australian Open doubles champion (w/Jason Kubler) will try to make his maiden Slam singles quarter-final when he faces 2022 semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe on Sunday.

Having never previously cracked the world’s Top 100, Hijikata is up to a career-high No. 81 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. ATPTour.com spoke to the 22-year-old earlier this North American summer to get to know him better off the court.

If you could have dinner with any three people who would they be and why?
Not too sure. Maybe Dan Carter, who is a New Zealand rugby player, and I really liked watching him play. He was probably one of my favourite athletes growing up. Maybe Barack Obama, I feel like he’s a pretty cool guy, so get some politics in there. And then I’m not I’m not too sure, maybe stick to sport and Michael Jordan. UNC connection there.

How big is he still at school?
Obviously he’s an absolute icon. He’s probably one of if not the best athletes ever come out of UNC. We have a rich history of sport and a lot of people having success in their professional careers. Yeah, just having him as kind of a symbol of what you can achieve after you’ve left UNC is pretty cool. And I think he’s a huge part of the culture there.

If you could switch places with one person for a day who would it be?
That’s a tough one. Maybe Novak or Federer or Nadal in their prime. I feel like just to kind of be able to feel how they feel on the court. They make it look so easy. So maybe I’d be able to do some things on the court that I can’t normally do.

Any particular match you wish you could have been the guy who played it for that reason?
Any of those Slam finals they’ve won. They’ve had a bunch of classics, when Rafa won his first Wimbledon, Federer beating Rafa at the Aussie Open in 2017, and then Novak beating Federer at Wimby from match points down. I feel like any one of those matches would be pretty cool to experience.

What is something fans might not know about you?
I think it’s pretty well documented that I went to college, but I’m halfway through a business degree at the moment. I’d like to finish it at some point. So maybe that’s something that people didn’t know beforehand. 

What’s something cool you’ve done off the court because of being a tennis player?
I’ve been able to play some pretty sweet golf courses just through kind of connections in tennis, which is pretty cool. I guess it’s kind of a hobby of mine that I picked up a few years ago and I like playing so that’s a pretty cool thing.

Is that one of your hobbies on tour?
My coach is huge into golf, he’s an unbelievable golfer. He’s a scratch golfer, so we look forward to playing whenever we can and it’s kind of a good thing to get your head away from tennis and to just kind of wind down.

What’s your current handicap?
Ah, I’d be up there. I’m not very good. I need to improve a lot. It’s frustrating because I feel like tennis players should be pretty good at golf, but obviously not the case with me. I need to get better. I enjoy playing and I want to get better.

What’s the coolest perk you’ve had from being a tennis player?
You get pretty lucky with the people you meet and I guess getting tickets to sporting events and stuff or just getting on golf courses, some stuff like that is pretty cool. The athletes you meet from other sports or people in other industries that you get to meet is pretty cool, but I’m still kind of new to it.

You get to travel with this job a lot. If you could visit one place, where would it be?
I feel like I’ve been to a lot of places, but I’ve always wanted to go on safari and somewhere in Africa. So that’s on the bucket list.

If there’s a tournament somewhere out there, then I’d be pumped to play. Even if not, I’d love to go just for a vacation.

What was your pinch-me moment on Tour?
Probably a couple last year. It was my first full year playing and getting to play Medvedev after getting my first ever tour-level win, he was No. 1 in the world at the time, that was pretty cool, a pretty special moment. And then playing Rafa on Arthur Ashe in my first ever Grand Slam main draw match, that’s kind of a big welcome to the big stage kind of moment.

That was a bit of a pinch-me moment but had to snap out of it pretty quickly.

Did you look around when you walked out?
I definitely looked around. I’d been out there once before when John Millman played Djokovic a few years ago. And I was like, Geez, how cool would it be to play on this court in front of a packed house? And I gave myself a little moment when I walked out there to just kind of look around and soak it all in and really try to appreciate for a second or two how cool it was and then try to focus on the match.

I was playing juniors at the time, I think I was just out of the tournament and he’d just beaten Federer at that tournament. And I was lucky enough, he was a great sport and gave my coach and I tickets to his match against Djokovic. It was my first time watching a match on Ashe and it was something like I’ve never experienced.

It’s huge. It’s way bigger than any other tennis stadium, or any one that I’ve ever been to. I’ve watched matches at Wimby on Centre Court and Phillippe Chatrier and Rod Laver and it feels like it’s twice as big.

If you could achieve one thing, what would it be?
Probably win Wimbledon. I think that’s everyone’s dream when you pick up a racquet, I feel like that’s the tournament every player wants to win. I guess that would be the one that I’d love to win.

Tennis matches can turn on a single point, which was as evident as ever in Alexander Zverev’s four-set win over Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday evening at the US Open.

Dimitrov was playing tennis reminiscent of his days in the Top 5 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, showing jaw-dropping shotmaking, balletic movement and expert changes of pace with his knifing backhand slice. But the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion was unable to convert two set points to take a two-set lead and paid dearly.

Zverev rallied past the former World No. 3 6-7(2), 7-6(8), 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows. The German, who has made it to the Round of 16 in four consecutive appearances at the event, will next play sixth seed Jannik Sinner, who defeated 2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka in four sets earlier in the day.

This encounter was a far cry from Zverev’s 6-2, 6-2 win against Dimitrov just two weeks ago in Cincinnati. The first two sets featured some of the highest-quality tennis that has been played in the tournament so far. But once the former World No. 2 levelled the match, he seized the momentum and Dimitrov also began to falter.

Zverev ultimately took a 6-1 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series after three hours and 41 minutes behind seven service breaks. The 2020 US Open finalist was solid in the most critical moments, hitting 43 winners to just 27 unforced errors.

Zverev will next try to extend his 3-1 Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage over Sinner. The pair last clashed at last year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. It will be a critical match for Zverev, who currently is in eighth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Sinner is in fourth.

“Sascha is serving very, very good. Physically he is strong again,” Sinner said. “I know him maybe a little bit worse because I haven’t played against him in a pretty long time now, so it would be nice to face him.”

Frances Tiafoe earned a tough four-set victory in the third round of the US Open on Friday against Adrian Mannarino. But some fans were more focussed on what happened involving the American later in the day.

After fulfilling his media obligations, Tiafoe visited the suite level inside Arthur Ashe Stadium to meet Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber.

 

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The Biebers were on site to watch WTA star Coco Gauff play Elise Mertens. Gauff won the match in three sets.

Tiafoe, still in his match kit, enjoyed speaking with the celebrities before returning inside the suite to take a photo with his girlfriend, Ayan Broomfield, Justin and Hailey.

 

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Another celebrity who was in the suite was avid tennis fan Jimmy Butler, an NBA star for the Miami Heat. Butler has travelled far and wide to watch Carlos Alcaraz compete this year, from Buenos Aires to Miami and Wimbledon.

But Butler is not solely an Alcaraz fan. The basketball player posted on his Instagram Stories that he was watching Tiafoe on his phone.

“Proof you be tapped in on me bro i ain’t gon clown bout that no more 😂😂 all love,” Tiafoe replied.

On Saturday Seal, another celebrity tennis fan, watched Jannik Sinner’s victory against Stan Wawrinka from the Italian’s box. 

“He’s obviously an incredible singer, but most importantly is a very, very nice man to be around,” Sinner said. “He [told] me that he’s going to make the European tour and everything, and then it’s nice to share a little bit different moments, not only talking about tennis. So it’s always nice.”

Fourteen consecutive wins and counting for Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury at the US Open.

The American-British pair maintained its perfect start to the 2023 edition of the hard-court major with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory against Ben McLachlan and Yoshihito Nishioka on Saturday. Ram and Salisbury held their nerve in the second-set tie-break to seal their second straight-sets win of the week and book a third-round clash with Mackenzie McDonald and Andreas Mies.

Ram and Salisbury are chasing their fourth major title this fortnight in New York, where they lifted the trophy in 2021 and 2022. A strong run at the final major of the year would also boost the pair’s position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. Last year’s Nitto ATP Finals champions are currently 15th as they chase a fifth consecutive appearance at the season finale.

Second seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek had a less straightforward passage to the third round. The Croatian-American duo let slip three match points in the second set before beating Petros Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4. Grand Slam champions already this season at Roland Garros, Dodig and Krajicek will next take on home wild cards Denis Kudla and Vasil Kirkov, who beat Matwe Middelkoop and Mate Pavic 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Other second-round winners on Day 6 at Flushing Meadows included seventh seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Santiago Gonzalez, who saved six match points in the second set before downing Nicolas Barrientos and Andre Goransson 7-6(5), 6-4. Roger-Vasselin and Gonzalez had trailed 2-5 in the second set before rallying to a thrilling two-hour, 53-minute win.

Jannik Sinner rose to the challenge of a former US Open champion Saturday in New York, where the sixth-seeded Italian overcame Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

In a clash between two of the purest baseline strikers on Tour, Sinner stayed clutch at key moments to secure a two-hour, 58-minute triumph on Louis Armstrong Stadium. He converted five of 13 break points he earned, keeping his cool impressively after 2016 titlist Wawrinka had charged to the second set to level the pair’s sixth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

𝐒𝐈𝐍tillating 💎@janniksin battles past Wawrinka in four sets to reach the last 16 in New York and now awaits the winner of Zverev/Dimitrov 🔜@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/FTTk3HQZih

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 2, 2023

The first of those clashes between Sinner and Wawrinka also took place in New York in 2019, when Wawrinka ousted a then-18-year-old Sinner across four sets on the Italian’s Grand Slam main-draw debut. Fast forward four years and Sinner showed why he is now an established Top 10 star, as he shut down Wawrinka’s revival with some razor-sharp returning that earned him two breaks of serve in each of the third and fourth sets.

“Obviously in four years a couple of things have changed, but I’m happy about my performance today,” said Sinner in his on-court interview. “I feel I wasn’t playing at my best, as he wasn’t playing at his best, but in key moments I handled it in a better way than him and I’m happy to be in the next round.”

Sinner spoke earlier in the week about how his coaches Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill had been encouraging him to work on his net game. The Italian appeared keen to heed that advice against Wawrinka, as he won 81 per cent (21/26) of points moving forward.

Victories for Sinner and top seed Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday mean a quarter-final rematch between the pair remains a possibility. Alcaraz saved match point before defeating Sinner in the last eight at the 2022 US Open, one of the most thrilling matches in recent memory.

Sinner lifted the biggest trophy of his career at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto last month and the Italian is now 44-12 for the season. He could rise into the Top 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time after the US Open if he beats Alexander Zverev or Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round, but the 22-year-old is not getting ahead of himself despite his recent good form.

“The confidence level is a little bit different,” said Sinner. “I’m very happy to be in the second week of a Grand Slam again, it always means a lot. Hopefully I can raise my level every time I play, knowing that every time I step on court I’m trying to give it my best shot. Let’s see how the next round goes.”

Carlos Alcaraz’s US Open campaign hit its first speed bump Saturday in New York, but the Spaniard’s title defence nonetheless continues apace.

Faced with a seeded opponent for the first time this fortnight, the Spaniard moved past Daniel Evans 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to book his spot in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the third straight year. Alcaraz needed to produce a high-class display to overcome Evans and his trademark box of tricks, but the Spaniard’s consistency and power was key as he held firm for a three-hour, 10-minute triumph.

Alcaraz and Evans produced a host of thrilling all-court exchanges to open the day’s play on Arthur Ashe Stadium in style. The 26th-seeded Evans dug deep in the third set to become the first player to take a set from Alcaraz this fortnight, but the World No. 1 was ultimately too consistent for the Briton. Alcaraz struck 60 winners to Evans’ 28 to improve to 3-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Perhaps the moment of a richly entertaining encounter was Alcaraz’s sublime forehand pass on the run to crucially break Evans for 4-2 in the fourth set. The Briton had played an almost perfect point, pulling the 20-year-old side to side, but was left staring in disbelief as the Spaniard charged out wide to fire a down-the-line finish that clipped the back of the baseline.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME 🤯🤯🤯@carlosalcaraz | @usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/EsnKCaAOMU

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 2, 2023

The 20-year-old Alcaraz’s next challenge as he chases his third Grand Slam crown is a clash against Matteo Arnaldi. The Italian upset 16th seed Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round of a major for the first time.

More to follow…