Top seed Jannik Sinner ensured he avoided the same fate as Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz by steamrolling his way into the fourth round of the US Open.
The Italian saw his closest-ranked rivals – defending champion Djokovic and Spain’s Alcaraz – suffer shock defeats at Flushing Meadows earlier this week.
Sinner had no such problems against Christopher O’Connell, beating the Australian 6-1 6-4 6-2 in less than two hours to reach the second week in New York.
“Everything can happen in this sport. I try to stay on my side of the net and try to take it day by day,” Sinner said when asked about Djokovic and Alcaraz’s early exits.
“There have already been a couple of upsets so let’s see what’s coming but I’m very happy to still be here.”
The 23-year-old will face American home hope Tommy Paul, the 14th seed, or Canada’s world number 143 Gabriel Diallo in the last 16.
Sinner has lost only two hard-court matches this season and won four titles on the surface, including his first Grand Slam triumph at January’s Australian Open.
His most recent success was at Cincinnati in August, winning the title the day before news emerged he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after twice testing positive for a banned substance earlier this year.
While 24-time major winner Djokovic and Alcaraz, the French Open and Wimbledon champion, were well below par in their early-round defeats, Sinner looked close to his best against O’Connell.
He fired down 46 winners and 15 aces, and denied the world number 87 any break points across the three sets.
