NEW YORK, Sep 4: Novak Djokovic did not encounter any of the sort of trouble he did in his previous match, eliminating qualifier Borna Gojo 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the US Open quarterfinals.
Djokovic who has won three of his men’s record 23 Grand Slam titles at Flushing Meadows – needed to come back from a two-set deficit in the third round before eventually winning in five against Laslo Djere.
This time, Djokovic played far more cleanly and was in control throughout. He finished with only 12 unforced errors, while Gojo made 40.
“Just glad to get through in straight sets,” said the second-seeded Djokovic, who already is assured of replacing Carlos Alcaraz at No. 1 in the ATP rankings next week.
Djokovic won five of the big-serving Gojo’s 15 service games while only getting broken once himself.
Next up for Djokovic will be a matchup against No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz, a 25-year-old from California, who is the only remaining player in the men’s bracket to not have dropped a set so far. Tuesday will be Djokovic’s 13th quarterfinal in New York and Fritz’s first.
“I need to play within myself and trust that if I’m playing well, then that’s going to be enough, and I don’t need to kind of do anything extra,” said Fritz, who defeated Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 earlier Sunday.
Iga Swiatek’s title defence ends
Iga Swiatek’s US Open title defense ended with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round.
The loss also means Swiatek’s stay at No. 1 in the WTA rankings will end next week, when current No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka will rise to the top spot for the first time.
Swiatek’s shots were off-target in Arthur Ashe Stadium and she had a difficult time handling the hard hitting from the 20th-seeded Ostapenko, who won the 2017 French Open.
This was not necessarily a huge surprise, based on their previous matchups: Ostapenko has now improved to 4-0 against Swiatek over their careers. No other player owns four victories against the woman who has led the WTA rankings since April 2022.
Ostapenko’s first quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows will come against Coco Gauff, the 19-year-old American who eliminated Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 earlier Sunday.
Bopanna-Ebden enter quarters
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden advanced to the men’s doubles quarterfinals at the US Open with a hard-fought three-set win over Julian Cash and Henry Patten.
The sixth seeded Indo-Australian pair won 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(10-6) against the British duo of Cash and Patten after toiling hard for two hours 22 minutes in the third round at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.
Bopanna and Ebden, who had reached the Wimbledon semifinals earlier this year, hit 13 aces and won 81 per cent of their first-serve points.
They will next face the winners of the third round match between top seeds Wesley Koolhof of Netherlands and United Kingdom’s Neal Skupski and the local duo of Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow.
The 43-year-old remains the only Indian in the fray in the men’s doubles event after Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni made first round exits.
Bopanna, however, crashed out of the mixed doubles event. (PTI)
