New York: Andrey Rublev of Russia got the better of No. 19 seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the Grandstand, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (7) in a thrilling round-three US Open match to sail through to the round-4 of the men’s singles.
The 24-year-old fired 38 winners and collapsed to the ground in delight after sealing his standout win on his fifth match point on Saturday.
“It was a crazy match. Obviously Denis deserved to win as well, as we all know,” Rublev said post-match. “Both of us deserved to win. After you play these kinds of matches, there is no winner, in my opinion.”
Rublev has improved to 3-2 in his ATP Head-2-Head series against the Canadian and will next play seventh-seeded Briton Cameron Norrie after the 26-year-old downed Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4, 6-1.
If Rublev can overcome Norrie, he will equal his best performance in New York. The ninth seed enjoyed runs to the quarter-finals in 2017 and 2020, defeating Matteo Berrettini en route to the last eight two years ago.
In other action, Spaniard Calos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 against American Jenson Brooksby in the third-round clash at the hard-court Grand Slam.
The Spaniard will face either former US Open champion Marin Cilic or the Brit Daniel Evans in the Round of 16 on Monday.
Alcaraz, whose rise to No. 4 in the rankings has been meteoric over the last year, has been expected to challenge for majors, and perhaps even inherit the mantle from the Big Three, since his breakout performance at the 2021 US Open.
