Felix Auger-Aliassime pulled off the biggest shock of the US Open so far by stunning third seed Alexander Zverev in the third round.
The Canadian claimed his first victory over a top-five player at a grand slam, fighting back from a set down to defeat Zverev 4-6 7-6 (7) 6-4 6-4.
Auger-Aliassime reached the semi-finals in New York back in 2021 but has struggled recently on the biggest stage, making it past the third round only once in his previous 10 major tournaments.
He played superbly under the lights on Louis Armstrong Stadium, hitting 50 winners, close to double his opponent’s tally.
“It’s been a work in progress, and I feel like tonight everything came together very nicely, and all the things I’ve been working on have paid off,” said the 25th seed.
“It’s a great boost of confidence, for sure. Encouraging for myself, my team, everybody that’s been supporting me.”
The result was another big disappointment at a slam for Zverev, who reached his third final at the Australian Open in January but made his earliest exit here since 2018.
Earlier, Jannik Sinner dug himself out of a hole to defeat another dangerous Canadian, Denis Shapovalov, and reach the fourth round.
The defending champion has not lost a grand slam match on hard courts for two years, but he looked in real trouble at 3-0 down in the third set with the pair locked at one-set all.
Shapovalov, who had won their only previous meeting at the Australian Open four years ago, had a chance to make it 4-0, but Sinner saved the break point and won nine games in a row on the way to a 5-7 6-4 6-3 6-3 victory.
“It was a very, very tough match today,” said the world number one. “I know Denis since quite a long time. I knew I had to play at a very, very high level. I’m very happy that I managed to win. He started off very well. I just tried to stay there mentally.”
Sinner again did not have his best serving day and, after clawing his way back from 2-5 in the opening set to 5-5, with Shapovalov unhappy about a foot fault call on a crucial point, the Italian double-faulted to lose the opening set.
Sinner has only lost one match to a player other than Carlos Alcaraz this season – to Alexander Bublik on grass in Halle – but he trailed Grigor Dimitrov by two sets to love at Wimbledon before the Bulgarian suffered a heartbreaking injury.
“I’m not a machine,” said Sinner with a smile. “I also struggle sometimes. Today I felt like from my side I didn’t struggle. I was playing great tennis, and he also.”
Shapovalov was left with mixed feelings, saying: “It’s obviously a tough loss. He’s number one for a reason, first of all. I had my chance. Was up in the third set. Obviously, he played great to come back.
“This is the goal, just to have this level more consistently. I know I’m able to play this brand of tennis, this level of tennis. In a way, I’m happy. Obviously sad, as well, that I lost. But it’s definitely a good step forward for me.”
Tenth seed Lorenzo Musetti has had a strong first week and he benefited from the retirement of fellow Italian Flavio Cobollo from injury in the third set of their contest.
Andrey Rublev is showing improved form again after a difficult period, but the 15th seed needed five sets to overcome Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong and reach the fourth round for a fourth straight year, where he will face Auger-Aliassime.
