US Open: Zverev battles past Dimitrov, sets up Sinner clash in last 16

Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the No 12 seed, reached the last 16 of the US Open by defeating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 19 seed, in four sets on Saturday night.

For the first two sets, Zverev and Dimitrov went toe-to-toe and did not give each other an inch as both sets went to tiebreaks. After the Bulgarian won the first tiebreaker, he broke Zverev and went up 4-2 in the second set. However, Zverev fought back to take the second set into another tiebreaker.

The German saved two set points in the tiebreaker before winning it 10-8 on his second set point to even up the match.

From there, Zverev rode the momentum as Dimitrov appeared to struggle with an injury. The German wrapped up the next two sets 6-1, 6-1 to complete the 7-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-1 win in three hours and 40 minutes on the Louis Armstrong Stadium. The win improved Zverev’s head-to-head over Dimitrov to 6-1 and was also his sixth win in a row over the former world No 3.

Zverev, ranked No 12, will play Italian Jannik Sinner, the No 6 seed, next. The German holds a 3-1 edge over the Italian in head-to-head, winning their last three matches in a row.

The German had defeated Australian Aleksandar Vukic (6-4, 6-4, 6-4) and Daniel Altmaier (7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds in New York, Dimitrov, ranked No 19, overturned the situation against Slovak Alex Molcan (6-7 (9), 6-7 (5), 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (9)) and beat Andy Murray (6-3, 6-4, 6-1).

New York (Grand Slam), other third-round matches (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44,700,000):

• Alex De Minaur (13) beat Nicolas Jarry (23): 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
• Jannik Sinner beat Stan Wawrinka: 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (8) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Cameron Norrie (16): 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) beat Daniel Evans (26): 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
• Jack Draper beat Michael Mmoh (WC): 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Laslo Djere (32): 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3
• Borna Gojo (Q) beat Jiri Vesely: 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
• Taylor Fritz (9) beat Jakub Mensik (Q): 6-1, 6-2, 6-0
• Dominic Stricker (Q) beat Benjamin Bonzi (WC): 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2
• Rinky Hijikata (WC) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
• Frances Tiafoe (10) beat Adrian Mannarino (22): 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Ben Shelton beat Aslan Karatsev: 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
• Tommy Paul (14) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (21): 6-1, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3
• Daniil Medvedev vs. Sebastian Baez

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