US Open: Rublev gets the last word against Shapovalov and reaches last 16

In a battle between two players who have been waiting in the wings for some time already, it was Andrey Rublev, the ninth seed, who got the last word against Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the No 19 seed, in the fifth set super tie-break (6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (7)) on Saturday after a four-hour 10-minute battle.

Rublev, ranked No 11, will play seventh seed Cameron Norrie next, hoping to get back to the quarter-finals here like he did in 2017 and 2020.

The Russian collapsed to the ground after clinching the victory, understandably over the moon after such a tough fight, and also relieved that the three match points that had come and gone on his serve at 5-4 in that set would not come back to haunt him.

Beaten in the second round in Cincinnati and the first round in Montreal after his semi-final at the Citi Open, Rublev (38 winners in that match) is seeing his form getting steady at the perfect time. The only downside is that he has already spent a lot of time on the court through that first week.

Shapovalov will of course have some big regrets, such as getting broken at 4-4 in that fifth set right after he had a break point at 4-3. But overall he had to fight so hard in that match that it was tough to avoid some rough patches here and there. The Canadian still came back from a break down in the fourth (1-3, 3-3) and saved three set points at 4-5 before Rublev again found a way to hold after a 10-minute game.

Read also

Norrie moves into US Open last 16 for first time, awaits Shapovalov or Rublev

Tennis Majors

And Shapovalov kept refusing to give up in that 4-5 game of the fifth set where he saved three match points before breaking back (5-5). Not in the most confident phase of his career this year so far, “Shapo” still keeps showing that he’s not that far from it. On Saturday, he had a foot in the door but in the end couldn’t prevent Rublev from closing it.

US Open, Other Third-Round Results

• Brandon Nakashima vs. Jannik Sinner : Saturday
• Richard Gasquet vs. Rafael Nadal: Saturday
• Marin Čilić vs. Daniel Evans: saturday: Saturday
• Ilya Ivashka vs. Lorenzo Musetti: saturday: Saturday
• Diego Schwartzman vs. Frances Tiafoe: : Saturday
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Jenson Brooksby: 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
• Cameron Norrie beat Holger Rune (28): 7-5, 6-4, 6-1
• Daniil Medvedev (1) beat Yibing Wu (Q): 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Nick Kyrgios (23) beat J.J. Wolf (WC): 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
• Pablo Carreno Busta (12) beat Alex De Minaur (18): 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Corentin Moutet (LL) beat Pedro Cachin: 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
• Karen Khachanov (27) beat Jack Draper: 6-3, 4-6, 6-5 ret.
• Casper Ruud (5) beat Tommy Paul (29): 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-0
• Matteo Berrettini (13) beat Andy Murray: 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Daniel Elahi Galan (Q): 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4