NEW YORK – Top-seeded Jannik Sinner reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals by shaking off a slow start and coming through at the end of tiebreaks that decided the first two sets, then pulled away to defeat No. 14 Tommy Paul 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1 on Monday night.
Two weeks after being acquitted in a doping case stemming from two positive tests in March, Sinner entered a showdown against 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev, the only former Flushing Meadows winner still in the men’s field.
Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, beating Medvedev in the final in five sets after losing the first two. They also met in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in July, with Medvedev winning that one.
“It will be a lot of running,” Sinner said, “so hopefully I’ll be physically ready.”
Sinner was not at his best at the start against Paul and fell behind after 20 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium with a double break at 4-1.
“It’s where you want to be. … It’s definitely different than any other environment,” Paul said. “It’s electrifying.”
It was no surprise that the vociferous crowd supported the American.
As the match progressed, chants of “USA!” and “Let’s go, Tommy! Let’s go!” rang out. There were also several moments when the crowd clapped for Sinner’s mistakes – which is considered bad etiquette in tennis and drew repeated warnings from the umpire, who asked that no noise be made between the first and second serves.
Sinner finished the first set with 15 unforced errors on the forehand side alone, but he quickly cleaned up and finished the match with only six more errors on the forehand side.
“A tough match,” said Sinner. “Of course I think I can score a few better points sometimes… But he’s a tough opponent. You have to accept that he moves very well and can shake up the game. So I’m happy with the win.”
Everything came down to tiebreakers. The first set was tied 3-3 before Sinner won the last four points. Paul led 5-4 in the second set, but Sinner won the last three points.
Sinner has now won 14 of his last 15 tiebreakers, a streak dating back to a tournament in Halle, Germany, in June, with the only exception being a loss to Medvedev at Wimbledon.
Sinner lost the first set he played at the US Open, but won the next twelve.
Paul was seeking a third career quarterfinal appearance and first at Flushing Meadows, as well as becoming the first American to beat a man ranked No. 1 in the world at the U.S. Open since Andre Agassi eliminated Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.
Instead, Paul fell to 0-6 in majors against top 10 players.
“I obviously had chances in the first set and then in the second,” said Paul. “But he won the important points and I didn’t. That was the story of the match, so to speak.”
Sinner improved his record to 32-2 with four hard court titles in 2024 and reached at least the quarterfinals in all four Grand Slam tournaments this year.
Earlier on Monday, fifth-seeded Medvedev claimed a 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Nuno Borges. The victory was briefly interrupted at the start of the third set when the electronic line call system was turned off due to a fire alarm.
The other quarter-final in the top half of the men’s bracket is between No. 10 Alex de Minaur and No. 25 Jack Draper. De Minaur beat Jordan Thompson 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in an all-Australian clash, while Draper became the first Briton to reach the US Open quarter-finals since Andy Murray in 2016 by beating Tomas Machac 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.
The men’s quarterfinals on Tuesday are as follows: No. 4 Alexander Zverev against No. 12 Taylor Fritz and No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov against No. 20 Frances Tiafoe.
This report used information from Coley Harvey of ESPN and The Associated Press.
