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IMAGES from Day 6 of the 2023 US Open, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York, on Saturday.
Alcaraz survives Evans test
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz overcame Britain's Daniel Evans with a 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win on Saturday, surviving his first real challenge at the US Open in the third round.
The top-seeded Spaniard breezed through his opening matches at Flushing Meadows and at first appeared on track for another easy victory but had to find his best form after Evans mounted a third-set comeback.
He next plays Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who shocked Britain's 16th seed Cameron Norrie in straight sets on Court 17.
"I'm feeling really, really well on court, really comfortable," said Alcaraz, who picked up his second major title at Wimbledon this year.
"I always say that I can be better, but right now I'm really, really happy with the level that I'm playing."
Alcaraz moved through the first set like a freight train, winning the first four games, and the 26th-seeded Evans failed to convert any of his three break points in the eighth game.
Evans did let out a roar as he broke Alcaraz with an unreturnable backhand down the line in the second game of the second set but the Spaniard broke back immediately and the Briton helped his opponent to another break in the fifth.
Alcaraz broke Evans again with a well-executed drop shot to close out the second set. However, Evans upped his level in the third set, channeling his frustration into a superb game seven where he broke with a backhand winner.
The 20-year-old Alcaraz tapped into his superior speed and agility to tame Evans, 13 years his senior, in the fourth set, zipping back and forth along the baseline before breaking with a sublime forehand winner in the sixth game.
He finished the entertaining clash with another forehand winner, one of 27 in the match, prompting cheers of approval from the rapt crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Alcaraz's fourth-round opponent Arnaldi said he had never faced a world number one before and would try to "enjoy the moment" against the heavily favoured Spaniard.
"I don't want to say that we play very similar, but he's very physical and I think I'm a bit physical," he told reporters.
"I don't know where I will play, but I think I will play in Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong and it will be the first time for me. Also a bit of emotion at the start. I will think about it tomorrow."
Across the plaza, 21-year-old Jack Draper offered British fans hope as he outlasted American wildcard Michael Mmoh 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to book his first trip to a Grand Slam fourth round.
He will face Russian eighth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat France's Arthur Rinderknech 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5.
Medvedev works graveyard shift to advance
Third seed Daniil Medvedev worked the US Open graveyard shift again on Saturday beating in-form Sebastian Baez 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(6) to end the Argentine's 12-match winning streak and ease into the fourth round of the season's final Grand Slam.
It was the second straight match that Medvedev started a contest one day and finished the next, having gone four sets with Australian Christopher O'Connell in a late night battle on Thursday that wrapped early Friday morning.
"Tough, I just want to go sleep, that's it, nothing more," Medvedev told the crowd that stayed to watch the match through to its conclusion.
In a match that got underway just before 11 p.m. ET (0300 GMT) Medvedev went right to work breaking Baez twice to jump out to a 4-1 lead on the way to taking the opening set.
Playing as if he was trying to end the contest before the clock struck midnight, Medvedev broke Baez again to open the second, racing to a 2-0 lead.
But Baez was not interested in a quick finish, building a 5-2 advantage in the third when the contest was stopped to allow the roof to be closed as rain began to fall.
When play resumed Medvedev, who had been growing increasingly agitated, came out with new focus, breaking the Argentine to get back on serve 5-4 and forcing the set to tie-break he would win 8-6.
"It felt like we were both playing well in the first two sets and I was just a little better on the important points," said Medvedev. "Everything was going my way and in the third set he raised his level just a little bit, and it was enough to make the match even tougher.
"Lucky and good for me to stay in the third set and not finish at four."
The win set up Medvedev for an intriguing last 16 meeting with Australian danger man Alex de Minaur.
Medvedev and de Minaur have met six times with the Russian winning four but the Australian has won the last two, including a quarter-final clash at last month's Canadian Open.
Jabeur holds off Bouzkova to reach fourth round
An ailing Ons Jabeur scraped by Czech Marie Bouzkova 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3 to keep her latest US Open campaign on track in the third round on Saturday despite an error-riddled performance.
The Tunisian fifth seed said this week she was feeling like a "zombie" due to illness but came back from the dead to overcome a cool-headed Bouzkova, firing off 56 winners under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
She will next play China's Zheng Qinwen, who beat Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the round of 16.
"It's a very tough match from both of us," said Jabeur, last year's runner-up. "She didn't want to stop. I tried my best today and she's a great player."
Jabeur may be known as the "Minister of Happiness" but the perennial fan favorite had little to smile about in the opening set, as her mistakes quickly piled up and Bouzkova broke her on the fifth try in the fourth game.
The Tunisian broke back with a nice backhand slice in the ninth game but handed Bouzkova another break with a double fault on set point.
Down a break in the second set, Bouzkova took an off-court medical timeout after the seventh game with an apparent leg injury but kept up the fight even as she occasionally limped around the court, breaking back in the 10th.
Jabeur, who at times hunched over on the court in clear discomfort, found new life in the tiebreak, where she fired off crisp forehand winners to push the affair into a third set.
She got the critical break in the sixth set as Bouzkova double faulted and nodded solemnly as the Czech hit a shot into the net on match point, sealing the nearly three-hour slugfest.
The Wimbledon runner-up said she had struggled to catch her breath early in the match but was grateful to be playing at all after suffering a foot injury in Cincinnati.
"Every match for me is a bonus right now," she told ESPN. I'm discovering a part of myself."
Jabeur said she expects a big challenge from fourth-round foe Zheng, against whom she retired in their last meeting in Toronto in 2022.
"She kicked my ass," said Jabeur. "Learned a lot. She has a very good forehand... It's going to be a tough one, for sure."
Pegula and Keys into last 16
Jessica Pegula fought past Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the US Open fourth round on Saturday and next faces compatriot Madison Keys as the American buzz continued to build heading into the second week of the year's final Grand Slam.
With four American men already in the last 16 and a chance for the same number to make it through in the women's draw, the home fans can dream of a Flushing Meadows trophy sweep no matter how far fetched that idea might seem.
Not since 2002 when Pete Sampras and Serena Williams were crowned US.Open champions have Americans hoisted both trophies but, with Pegula, Coco Gauff, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe all top 10 seeds and in the last 16, the chance will be there.
Seeded third and carrying momentum from a solid run in to Flushing Meadows that included a win at the Canadian Open, Pegula is rated the top US hope and has performed as expected, only dropping one set on her way to the fourth round.
After straight set romps in her first two matches, Pegula received her first test in the form of gritty veteran Svitolina, a US Open semi-finalist in 2019.
Pegula had the only break in a tight opening set but that would be all she needed for a 1-0 lead.
In the second it was Svitolina finally getting her first break chance and making the most of the opportunity to pull level.
The deciding set also looked ready to swing on a single break and it went to Pegula who broke the 26th seed to go 3-2 up, sweeping four straight games to clinch her spot in style.
The last time Flushing Meadows had a chance to celebrate a homegrown women's champion was in 2017 when Sloane Stephens beat Keys in an all-American final.
Keys is back and making another run after taming 14th seed Liudmila Samsonova 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 to set up the clash with Pegula.
Vondrousova eases past Alexandrova
Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova continued her impressive run at the US Open, defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday to storm into the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time in five years.
The Czech ninth seed, who made her Grand Slam breakthrough at the All England Club last month, has flown under the radar in New York and came into the clash with her Russian opponent having dropped only seven games.
The 24-year-old surrendered her serve twice in the first set but showed all her artistry at Louis Armstrong Stadium to break Alexandrova four times and wrap it up easily.
Alexandrova continued to look shaky on her delivery in the next set and allowed Vondrousova to surge ahead 4-0 with a third double fault of the contest before finally producing a hold two games later to avoid a bagel.
But there would be no late comeback for the 22nd seed, with Vondrousova completing the victory in only 56 minutes when Alexandrova fired a backhand wide.
"I felt really good," said Vondrousova, who will meet American hope Peyton Stearns in the next round.
"I was waiting the whole day, I didn't know what to expect. It's actually my first night session here and I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much.
"I'm very happy with my game, it's a lot of pressure and I didn't know how it's going to work. I'm just grateful to be here and play healthy again. I'm enjoying my time in New York."
Sabalenka routs France's Burel
History repeated itself as Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka pummeled France's Clara Burel 6-1, 6-1 in the third round of the US Open on Saturday, ending the unseeded player's New York campaign in dominant fashion.
Sabalenka had swatted aside Burel in the third round a year ago and once again the Australian Open winner would not be denied as she fired off 22 winners in a brisk one-hour affair at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The perennial major contender Sabalenka demoralised her opponent from the start, winning the first five straight games in the opening set, where she never faced a break point.
Burel showed some signs of life when she fended off a pair of break points in the opening game of the second set but Sabalenka quickly retook control.
A semi-finalist in New York the last two years, Sabalenka faced her only break point of the match in the sixth game of the second set but extinguished Burel's chances with a well-placed drop shot.
Burel thrust her racquet to the ground in frustration after sending a forehand shot out in the final game of the second set, before Sabalenka broke her serve for the match with a backhand winner.
Sabalenka will next play the winner of a third-round match between 13th seed Daria Kasatkina and Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen.
