Sinner, Osaka and Djokovic shine as US Open quarter-final lineup takes shape

Monday at the US Open showcased a series of dominant performances, with seven of the eight singles matches concluding in straight-set victories.

Among the top seeds, Jannik Sinner, the world number one and defending champion, decisively moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory against Alexander Bublik in just one hour and 21 minutes, marking the second-quickest men's singles win this year. 

Bublik even described Sinner as an “artificial intelligence” player, due to the Italian’s efficiency on court. 

Sinner, who has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, extended his hard-court Grand Slam winning streak to 25 matches. 

Elsewhere, Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish second seed, remains the only man in the tournament yet to concede a set. He will face Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka, who acknowledged, “Against a player like Carlos, you need to bring your best. He’s one of the two biggest challenges right now in tennis.” 

The winner could face Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, who holds a 10-0 record against his next opponent, Taylor Fritz. 

Djokovic, ahead of this clash, remarked, “Taylor definitely is one of the guys that no doubt has a game, has the potential to be a Grand Slam winner. He was playing finals here last year, so he was one match away, so there is no reason not to believe that he can make it. 

“Hopefully not this year, but any other year is fine”. 

Djokovic is coming off his best performance of the fortnight, but has shown signs of wear and tear. 

Fritz, the fourth seed and last year’s US Open runner-up, is the only American man left in the draw and hopes for crowd support, saying, “Hopefully the crowd is really going to get behind me now because I am the last (American) guy.”

Sabalenka loves the winning feeling

Meanwhile, in the women’s draw, Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed and defending champion, says she’s enjoying life at the top. “I’m enjoying being world No.1. I’m enjoying this pressure. I’m working really hard to be where I am,” she said. 

Naomi Osaka also delivered a dominant 6-3, 6-2 performance against Coco Gauff, her cleanest big-stage performance of her comeback from maternity leave. 

Osaka did not allow Gauff a single break point. She has a remarkable record of winning the title every time she reaches a Grand Slam quarter-final, with 12 wins from 12 matches at majors in the last eight or beyond. 

Osaka expressed her joy, saying, “I honestly just had so much fun out here ... This is my favourite court in the world and it means so much for me to be back here.” 

She will now play Karolina Muchova. 

Jessica Pegula, last year’s finalist against Sabalenka, credited a relaxed approach at the US Open to an escape room outing, admitting, “I felt terrible coming into this tournament, honestly. Went and did an escape room with my friends and had, like, two drinks and was, like, I need to just chill and stop getting so frustrated and overthinking all these practices.” 

Her next opponent is Barbora Krejcikova, who achieved one of the great escape acts by saving eight match points against Taylor Townsend.