Daily Times

NEW YORK: Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev marched into the US Open quarter-finals on Sunday, where a shock Dutch qualifier will try to deny him a third straight trip to the New York semi-finals. Medvedev defeated British 24th seed Daniel Evans 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, making his fourth trip to the last eight in the past five Grand Slams as he chases his first Slam title. Medvedev, who lost this year’s Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic and the 2019 US Open final to Rafael Nadal, has not dropped a set in four matches. Medvedev next faces 117th-ranked Botic Van de Zandschulp, who outlasted Argentine 11th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 in four hours and 20 minutes. There are only nine seeds among the men’s last 16 ––- the fewest to get this far at a Slam since nine at Wimbledon in 2013, and at a US Open since eight in 2005.

Canadian teen Leylah Fernandez followed her shock upset of 2020 US Open winner Naomi Osaka by defeating German 16th seed and three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2. Seven of the top nine women’s seeds reached the last 16, with Osaka and top-ranked Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty exiting early. Fernandez, who turns 19 on Monday, advanced to a first Slam quarter-final against Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Elina Svitolina, the fifth seed from Ukraine. Svitolina, who turns 27 next Sunday, beat two-time major winner Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3 to reach her eighth Grand Slam quarter-final. Second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who made a Slam-best run to July’s Wimbledon semi-finals, eliminated Belgian 15th seed Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-1. Sabalenka will next face Czech eighth seed Barbora Krejcikova, the reigning French Open champion who held on to beat two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 7-6 (7/4). Spanish 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, who upset Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, reached his first Slam quarter-final by downing 141st-ranked German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0. Alcaraz, ranked 55th, is the youngest US Open men’s quarter-finalist since Brazilian Thomaz Koch in 1963. The Spaniard will face Canadian 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat American Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, with one of the two assured of playing his first Grand Slam semi-final.