Third-seed Carlos Alcaraz will face 11th-seed Jannik Sinner in the US Open quarter-finals, after both players came through five-set victories against Marin Cilic and Ilya Ivashka respectively.
Spaniard Alcaraz, 19, overcame 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic 6-4 3-6 6-4 4-6 6-3 to book a place in the last eight.
Alcaraz, who can end the Open ranked No 1 in the world, dropped to his knees when he won the gruelling contest, which lasted three hours, 54 minutes and ended at 2:23 am local time – missing the record by three minutes for the latest finish in Open history.
If he is to do so, Alcaraz would become the youngest No 1 on the ATP tour since 2001, while Cilic’s exit means there is not a single former US Open champion left in both the men’s and women’s draws.
Sinner held off Ilya Ivashka to win his match 6-1 5-7 6-2 4-6 6-3 to clinch a spot in all four Grand Slam quarter-finals in 2022.
Sinner, who turned 21 in August, became the youngest player to reach the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slam events in a season since Novak Djokovic was 20 in 2007. Sinner was down 3-1 in the fifth set but rallied to win five straight games to close out the unseeded Ivashka.
Sinner won 12 break points in the match and dug deep in the fifth, showcasing why the rising Italian is considered a potential star. Sinner joins Matteo Berrettini as Italian men in the US Open quarterfinals.
Elsewhere, Sixth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka bounced back from a slow start and visits from the trainer to beat No 19 seed Danielle Collins 3-6 6-3 6-2 and reach the US Open quarterfinals, where she will face No 22 Karolina Pliskova.
Sabalenka continued her mastery at Flushing Meadows over Collins, beating her for the third time at the US Open (2018 and 2021).
She led 4-3 in the second set when she needed a medical timeout. Sabalenka had a trainer massage her left thigh and it continued throughout breaks in the match. An Open semi-finalist in 2021, Sabalenka said at her on-court interview she was fine.
Sabalenka, who is from Belarus, was not allowed to play at Wimbledon this year after all players from her country and Russia were banned due to the invasion of Ukraine.
No. 24 seed Pliskova moved into the quarterfinals with a 7-5 6-7 (5) 6-2 win over 26th-seeded Victoria Azarenka.
Pliskova, a former world No 1, was the runner-up at the US Open in 2016 and at Wimbledon in 2021.
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