Sinner: youngest player to reach quarter-finals of all 4 Grand Slam events since Djokovic
Jannik Sinner won against Ilya Ivashka 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 on Monday night and will face the winner of the match between Croat Marin Cilic, the No 15 seed, and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the No 3 seed, in the next round
Jannik Sinner played with fire on Monday as he kept getting Ilya Ivashka back into that match. But the Italian fought his way back in the fifth set from 1-3 down to win 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and reach his first US Open quarter-final.
At 21, the 11th seed Sinner becomes the youngest player to reach quarter-finals at all four Grand Slam events since Novak Djokovic in 2007-2008. And another page of Italian tennis history has been written as it is the first time that two Italian players have reached the quarter-finals at the US Open – Sinner and Matteo Berrettini.
Working with Darren Cahill since Wimbledon, Sinner has gotten himself back on track this season and will now try to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final where he will play either third seed Carlos Alcaraz or 15th seeded Marin Cilic. But the Italian has already spent a lot of energy through the tournament so he might learn the hard way that if you have a chance to win in straight sets at a Slam, you do everything you can to make it happen. Sinner was in fact up a set and break (6-1, 4-2) in a match where he was with no doubt the better player but kept having rough patches on his serve. He had already played five sets in his first round and four in the third round.
But the 21-year-old, who lost in five sets against Djokovic at Wimbledon in the quarter-finals, keeps showing lots of fighting spirit in New York. If he can clean his performances a bit, he will absolutely turn into one of the top contenders for the title now that Nadal has gone out of the tournament too.
US Open, New York City (Grand Slam), Other fourth round results
- Frances Tiafoe (22) beat Rafael Nadal (2): 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
- Andrey Rublev (9) beat Cameron Norrie (7): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
- Nick Kyrgios (23) beat Daniil Medvedev (1): 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Karen Khachanov (27) beat Pablo Carreno Busta (12): 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
- Casper Ruud (5) beat Corentin Moutet (LL): 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-2
- Matteo Berrettini (13) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
- Marin Cilic vs. Carlos Alcaraz