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.
"He's a tricky opponent," Alcaraz said of Evans. "We made great points, great shots. A lot of different kinds of situations."
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.
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 the winner of the clash between Russian eighth seed Andrey Rublev and France's Arthur Rinderknech.
DRAPER DEFIES ODDS AS BRITISH OLD GUARD EXIT US OPEN EARLY
Young Jack Draper has emerged as the unlikely hero of British men's tennis at the US Open this week, reaching the fourth round of the year's final major as established names from his country crashed out.
The 21-year-old arrived in New York unsure if he could even complete one match after suffering a small tear in his shoulder that forced him to retire from the Winston-Salem tune-up event last week, a grim sign after an already injury-plagued season.
Instead, the 123rd-ranked Draper has defied the odds for his best showing at a major, as more familiar names like three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, top Briton Cameron Norrie and Daniel Evans were sent packing before the second week.
"I'm not here just to, you know, be here and be happy to play," he said. "I'm a competitor when I get into the matches."
He recorded a shock straight sets win over 17th seed Hubert Hurkacz in the second round and overcame American wild card Michael Mmoh 6-4 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the third on Saturday, showing poise well beyond his experience.
"I've never won a four-set match before," he told reporters after sending over 52 winners and 13 aces to beat Mmoh.
"It's not been easy for me the last sort of year or two with the injury struggles I've had. I come into each tournament thinking, 'Oh, am I going to hold up this week?' Five sets is a bit different, and to do it at this level, I'm very pleased with myself."
The victory was a full-circle moment for Draper, who had to retire in the third round at Flushing a year ago.
He faces an uphill battle in the fourth round against eighth seed Andrey Rublev, who has triumphed in both their previous meetings, after the Russian took down France's Arthur Rinderknech 3-6 6-3 6-1 7-5.
"To come here a year on, despite maybe my ranking having dropped a fair bit because of the injuries and not being able to be on the same confidence level that I was last year, you know, I'm incredibly proud of that," Draper told reporters. "And, hopefully, I can keep going this week."
MEDVEDEV WORKS US OPEN GRAVEYARD SHIFT TO REACH LAST 16
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 quarterfinal clash at last month's Canadian Open.
