‘I’m not a machine’ – Sinner fights back to beat Shapovalov

US Open 2025

Dates: August 24 through September 7 in Flushing Meadows, New York

Jannik Sinner, the defending champion, said he is “not a machine,” after being forced to use a set in a test match against Denis Shapovalov to advance to the US Open fourth round.

Italian champion Shapovalov, a four-time Grand Slam champion, defeated by 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

The world’s number one player, Sinner, struggled with his serve and used a number of unusually loose groundstrokes throughout the first three sets, despite only losing 11 games in his previous two games.

He had only 58% of his first-serve percentage in the match, which included 5 double faults and 36 unforced errors.

However, he won 12 of the next 15 games to seal the victory after saving a break point to prevent going into double-breakdown in the third set.

I am not a machine, I am aware. Sinner, who will face either Alexander Bublik or Tommy Paul as the 14th seed or the 23rd seed, will face him next.

“I didn’t struggle today, in my opinion. He and I both had excellent tennis matches. Every game is challenging. Today’s scoreline was a little sluggish for me, but I just made an effort to stay there mentally.

In the first set, Shapovalov jumped out of the blocks, breaking Sinner’s serve in the fourth game, and resulting in a 5-2 lead on his own serve.

Sinner responded by serving for the set and turning in his match’s first break point before giving Shapovalov a one-set lead with an untimely double fault.

In the seventh game, the 24-year-old Italian took control of the second set, pouncing on his first break point, before confidently holding on to level the match.

With Shapovalov breaking Sinner’s serve in the second game and maintaining a 30-40 lead in the fourth set, momentum rekindled in the third set.

However, he was unable to secure the double break, so he buried a shot into the net, which turned out to be the game’s turning point.

Sinner won the next two sets, rising to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set thanks to five double faults from Shapovalov, and then playing the final eight games.

Andrey Rublev defeated Coleman Wong in a five-set thriller to win the historic US Open, 2-6 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-3.

Wong, age 21, made it through three rounds of qualifying to become the first Hong Kong man to compete in the Open Grand Slam main draw.

He then defeated Australian Adam Walton and American Aleksandar Kovacevic to move one win away from New York’s second week.

The world number 173 defeated Rublev to win the first set, twice beating the 15th seed in four straight games.

Wong wrestled his way back into the match at the start of the fourth set, turning the match’s opening set break point into a decider, winning the second and third sets to a decider.

Rublev scored the decisive break in the sixth game there before clinching the victory with his first match point.

Rublev, who will next face third-seede Alexander Zverev or Felix Auger-Aliassime, said, “He played aggressively and without fear – it was tough.”

He was all over me, and I had to fight every ball to turn things around because “I didn’t start well.” In the final game, he was fighting until the very end. I’m happy that I won and advance to the next round.

Leandro Riedi, the 45th-ranked Swiss qualifier, became the lowest-ranked player to reach the fourth round of a major since 2002 when Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak retired from the first set with a broken leg.

Lorenzo Musetti, the tenth seed, and Flavio Cobolli, the other Italian, made similar progress.

Cobolli, the 24th seed, fell during the match and received treatment three times from the trainer before retiring in the third set, falling to 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.