Coric saves six match points to stun fourth seed Tsitsipas

With the win at the Arthur Ashe Stadium here on Friday, he sent the fourth seed tumbling out of the US Open in the third round. The gritty 27th seed had looked down for the count when Tsitsipas twice served for the match in the fourth set. But, the 22-year-old Greek faltered with victory in his grasp.

Coric had to come from a break down again in the fifth set. However, he looked indefatigable even after four-and-a-half hours on court, and secured a famous victory on his second match point.

“I just have to be honest and have to say that I was really lucky,” said Coric, who will face Australian Jordan Thompson on Sunday.

Meanwhile, World No.1 Novak Djokovic made it to the last-16 by defeating Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 42 minutes. “It was a very good performance from my side. I managed to read his serve well,” the top seed was quoted as saying by the ATP Tour website.

Awaiting Djokovic in the next round is No.20 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who breezed past Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Alexander Zverev also made his way into the pre-quarterfinals, with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 success over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. The German will next face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

In women’s singles, Japan’s Naomi Osaka survived a scare, grinding out a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2 win against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk. No.6 seed Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) moved past American Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the Round-of-16 at a Grand Slam event for the 20th time in her career.

Rohan Bopanna (India) and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov advanced to the second round of the US Open men’s doubles after a straight-sets win on Friday.

Bopanna and Shapovalov hardly broke a sweat to get past their American rivals Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin 6-2, 6-4 in their tournament opener. Bopanna is the lone surviving Indian in the tournament after the exits of Sumit Nagal and Divij Sharan in men’s singles and men’s doubles respectively.

Men’s singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1; Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) lost to Borna Coric (Croatia) 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7(4); Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Women’s singles: Naomi Osaka (Japan) beat Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2; Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Jessica Pegula (USA) 6-4, 6-3.