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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov was ousted from the U.S. Open following a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 third-round loss to top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy on Saturday in New York.
The Richmond Hill, Ont., native leapt out to a 5-2 lead until Sinner stormed back to knot things up at 5-5 before the 27th-seeded Shapovalov took the opening set.
In the second, Shapovalov held a 3-2 edge before Sinner won four of the next five games to even up the match at one set apiece.
Shapovalov again jumped out to an early lead, this time 3-0, in the third set. However, Sinner went on to win the next six games to put the Canadian on his heels.
In the fourth and final set, it was Sinner who grabbed some early momentum, taking a 4-1 lead to eventually close out the match.
WATCH | Shapovalov falls to top-ranked Sinner in 4th round at U.S. Open:
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was defeated 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 Saturday in the fourth round of play at the U.S. Open.
Shapovalov had 15 aces to nine double faults and converted three of his six break-point opportunities. However, he had 47 unforced errors to Sinner’s 36.
Sinner, meanwhile, had just two aces and five double faults while breaking on six of 13 chances.
Fernandez, Williams march on
In women’s doubles action, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., alongside tennis legend Venus Williams, marched through to the third round with a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win over Japan’s Eri Hozumi and Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri.
Fernandez and Williams broke on four of their seven chances, won 79 per cent of their first-serve points and fired 29 winners to their opponents’ 19.
The duo will next face the winner between Great Britain’s Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal and Shuai Zhang and Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Later Saturday, Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime was scheduled to face third-seeded Alexander Zverev in third-round action.
Gauff to face Osaka next
For the first time at this U.S. Open, Coco Gauff didn’t double-fault in her first service game. And for the first time, she didn’t get broken to begin things, either.
With her work-in-progress serve looking the best it has so far in this trip to Flushing Meadows, the No. 3-seeded Gauff turned in by far her most solid — and stress-free — performance Saturday, defeating No. 28 Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-3, 6-1 to reach the fourth round of a tournament she won in 2023.
“It’s been like an emotional week, but I think I needed those tough moments to move forward,” said Gauff, who will face four-time major champion Naomi Osaka on Monday for a berth in the quarterfinals. “I was putting too much pressure on myself.”
Osaka, who won titles in New York in 2018 and 2020, moved into the fourth round — a stage she last got to at any major at the 2021 Australian Open — with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 15 Daria Kasatkina.
