The third round of the ATP US Open has come to a close, and many of the top-seeded players are still alive as the tournament heads into its second week of action.
Only one of the top seven seeds has been knocked out, with the likes of Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev looking dominant thus far in New York.
Meanwhile, a promising young Canadian trio has successfully made history with their fine performances at Flushing Meadows.
Six of top seven seeds through to US Open round of 16
The top men’s tennis players seem to be doing quite well thus far in the US Open bubble. Of the top seven seeds, six have made it to the round of 16.
The lone exception has been No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who crashed out in five sets to Borna Coric in their third-round matchup on Friday.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic — who remains undefeated in 2020 — was dominant in his 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win over Jan-Lennard Struff, while No. 5 seed Alexander Zverev came back from a set down to defeat Adrian Mannarino in four sets.
And in Saturday’s action, No. 2 Dominic Thiem overcame former US Open champion Marin Cilic in four sets. Meanwhile, No. 3 Daniil Medvedev rolled past American wild card J.J. Wolf, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
Medvedev, who lost to Rafael Nadal in last year’s US Open final, has been arguably the most impressive player in this year’s tournament thus far. The Russian has yet to drop a single set in his first three matches.
No. 6 seed Matteo Berrettini and No. 7 David Goffin also made it through to the fourth round after comfortable straight-sets wins.
Aside from Coric beating Tsitsipas, the other two notable third-round upsets came when unranked Vasek Pospisil defied the ATP US Open 2020 betting odds to knock out No. 8 seed Roberto Bautista Agut in five sets. No. 21 Alex De Minaur also rallied from 2-1 down to oust No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov in five sets.
Looking ahead to the fourth round, Djokovic will face No. 20 seed Pablo Carreno Busta. The Serb has a perfect 3-0 record against the Spaniard, and SBOTOP odds should have him as a massive favourite to make it 4-0. All three of their matches have been in the round of 16, the most recent of which was in last year’s Cincinnati Masters.
Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem will face 20-year-old upstart Felix Auger-Aliassime, who completed Canada’s historic achievement at this year’s US Open.
Canadian trio makes US Open history
For the first time in history, Canada will have three men’s players competing in the second week of the US Open.
No. 15 seed Auger-Aliassime joined compatriots Denis Shapovalov and Pospisil in the last 16 as he produced one of the most dominant wins of the third round, a 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 thrashing of France’s Corentin Moutet.
Auger-Aliassime, who defeated former World No. 1 Andy Murray in the second round, continued to create ATP US Open 2020 highlights as he smashed 34 winners against the overmatched Moutet. He won over 70 per cent of his first and second serve points and also converted seven of 14 break points.
One of the most promising young players on Tour, Auger-Aliassime has reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his young career. Prior to this year, his best showing in a major was the third round at Wimbledon.
Auger-Aliassime, who just turned 20 last month, is also the first player born in the 2000s to make a Grand Slam fourth round.
Similar to Pospisil, Shapovalov also won a hard-fought five-set match against American Taylor Fritz to make it to the round of 16. The No. 12 seed has now reached the fourth round of the US Open for the second time in his career. He last made it to the last 16 in 2017, which was the first year he had competed in the US Open.
The 21-year-old will now face No. 7 David Goffin the fourth round. Goffin won their only meeting to date, which came in the round of 16 of last year’s Japan Open.
Meanwhile, Pospisil will take on de Minaur. de Minaur has won both of his matches against Pospisil, which came in hard-court tournaments in Washington and Shanghai in 2018.
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