Despite being on par with him from the start, Tommy Paul was unable to get past the world’s top-ranked player on Monday night.
Jannik Sinner fought back a battle with Paul at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York to advance to the quarterfinals of the US Open on Monday. Sinner won 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 in a thrilling match. The loss eliminated Paul from the US Open and ended his second straight run to the fourth round of the tournament.
Sinner won the Australian Open to start the year and reached the semifinals at the French Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He is now the fifth player to reach all four major tournament quarterfinals in a single season at age 23 or younger in the Open era. Monday night’s victory was his 20th at a Grand Slam in 2024, the most among men or women this season.
Paul jumped right in and stunned Sinner from the start. He took a 4-1 lead and scored 11 consecutive points in the first set. Sinner wasn’t out of the game for long. He won 10 of the next 12 and quickly tied the set 4-4. He took it to 5-4 and nearly closed out the set there, but Paul saved the set point and eventually forced the tiebreak. Sinner overtook him in the end to claim the first set and complete his comeback.
The two maintained the same pace in the second set, which went to a tiebreak after a late surge from Sinner. He then outlasted Paul again in the tiebreak to take the win by one point.
Finally, after two closely contested sets, Sinner took off. The Italian went 3-0 up in the third and quickly ended the night with a 6-1 win in the third to clinch his straight-set victory.
Sinner is the favorite to win the U.S. Open after Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were eliminated in the early rounds. On Wednesday, he will face No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, whom he beat in the Australian Open final, in the quarterfinals in what is sure to be his toughest match of the tournament so far. These two have split their two matches this season, as Medvedev beat Sinner at Wimbledon in five sets. Medvedev reached the quarterfinals after beating Portugal’s Nuno Borges in straight sets on Monday.
Jessica Pegula reaches the quarter-finals of her seventh Grand Slam
No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula advanced to the quarterfinals for the second time in three years with a straight-sets win over Diana Shnaider, 6-4, 6-2. Shnaider rallied in the first set, but Pegula, with the crowd behind her, was able to finish her off.
Pegula has advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament seven times. She joins fellow American Emma Navarro, who defeated Coco Gauff on Sunday. Pegula has never advanced to a semifinal in her six previous attempts. At the 2022 US Open, she lost to Iga Swiatek, who she will now face again after the No. 1 seed defeated Liudmila Samsonova 6-4, 6-1 in their match on Monday night.
