US Open: Shelton surges into last 16 with impressive win over Karatsev, sets up all-American clash with Paul

American Ben Shelton advanced to the last 16 of the US Open by beating Russian Aslan Karatsev 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Shelton ensured his strong run at this year’s US Open continued with a commanding performance over former Australian Open semi-finalist Karatsev.

The young American fired down a huge total of 26 aces to keep the Russian at bay on his serve. Combined with 15 double faults of the racquet of a misfiring Karatsev, a competitive opening two sets quickly got away from the world No 77 as the 20-year-old American raced home for a four set win.

Shelton’s win sets up an enticing encounter with fellow American Tommy Paul, the No 14 seed, next.

Ahead of his victory, Shelton edged out Argentinian Pedro Cachin (1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4) and benefited from the abandonment of Austrian Dominic Thiem (7-6 (1), 1-0).

Karatsev, ranked No 77, won against Jiri Lehecka (6-3, 6-3, 6-3) and edged out Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena (6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)) in the previous rounds of the Flushing Meadows tournament.

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

• Daniil Medvedev vs. Sebastian Baez
• Alexander Zverev vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Alex De Minaur
• Stan Wawrinka vs. Jannik Sinner
• Arthur Rinderknech vs. Andrey Rublev
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Cameron Norrie
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Daniel Evans
• Michael Mmoh vs. Jack Draper
• Laslo Djere vs. Novak Djokovic
• Jakub Mensik vs. Taylor Fritz
• Borna Gojo vs. Jiri Vesely
• Dominic Stricker vs. Benjamin Bonzi
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Rinky Hijikata
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Tommy Paul beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (21): 6-1, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3