US Open: Paul comes back from 0-2 for first time in career

American Tommy Paul, the No 14 seed, reached the third round of the US Open by producing a stunning comeback to beat Russian Roman Safiullin 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Wednesday night.

After about an hour and a half on Court 17, it wasn’t looking good for Tommy Paul. The American had never come back from two sets to love down in nine attempts, and that’s the position he found himself in against a red-hot Roman Safiullin.

Tenth time lucky, however, as the No 14 seed roared back into the match, reeling off three straight sets to make the third round of the US Open, and book a mouth-watering clash against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the No 21 seed, next.

The American won against Italian qualifier Stefano Travaglia (6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1) ahead of his victory, while Safiullin, ranked No 60, defeated Italian Marco Cecchinato (6-4, 6-2, 6-0).

New York (Grand Slam), other second-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44.700.000, most recent results first):

• Daniil Medvedev vs. Christopher O’Connell
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Lloyd Harris
• Felipe Meligeni Alves vs. Sebastian Baez
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Daniel Evans
• Gael Monfils vs. Andrey Rublev
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Alex Michelsen
• Yibing Wu vs. Alex De Minaur
• Yu Hsiou Hsu vs. Cameron Norrie
• Arthur Fils vs. Matteo Arnaldi
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Arthur Rinderknech
• Andy Murray vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Jack Draper vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Michael Mmoh vs. John Isner
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Jannik Sinner
• Alexander Zverev vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Juan Pablo Varillas vs. Taylor Fritz
• Sebastian Ofner vs. Frances Tiafoe: wednesday
• Casper Ruud vs. Zhizhen Zhang: wednesday
• Titouan Droguet vs. Jakub Mensik: wednesday
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo: 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
• Rinky Hijikata (WC) beat Marton Fucsovics: 6-1, 6-2, 6-1
• Ben Shelton beat Dominic Thiem: 7-6 (1), 1-0 ret.
• Adrian Mannarino (22) beat Fabian Marozsan: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1
• Jiri Vesely beat Francisco Cerundolo (20): 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (6)
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 6-4, 6-1, 6-1
• Benjamin Bonzi (WC) beat Christopher Eubanks (28): 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7)
• Aslan Karatsev beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Laslo Djere (32) beat Hugo Gaston (Q): 6-1, 6-2, 6-3
• Borna Gojo (Q) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Dominic Stricker (Q) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (7): 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-3