NEW YORK: Jasmine Paolini joined Coco Gauff as the only women to reach at least the fourth round at every Grand Slam tournament in 2024, getting that far at the US Open for the first time with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 30 seed Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.

The fifth-seeded Paolini, a 28-year-old from Italy, had never made it past the second round in 16 appearances at majors entering this season. But she reached the fourth round at the Australian Open in January, before being the runner-up at both the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July.

Now she is once again into Week 2. Paolini compiled 13 of her 22 winners off the forehand side against Putintseva at Louis Armstrong Stadium and will meet 2023 French Open finalist Karolina Muchova on Monday for a berth in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.

Also reaching the fourth round with a win on Saturday was sixth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States. She overwhelmed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain 6-3, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Against Pegula, Bouzas Maneiro had 29 unforced errors and only five winners.

In the first men’s match on Saturday, Tomas Machac won 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 against David Goffin and moved into the fourth round at a major for the first time.

Muchova is back in the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since having surgery on her right wrist, doing so by beating Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-2.

Muchova made it to the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows before losing to Gauff. But Muchova didn’t play again last season and had a wrist operation in October, returning to the tour this June.

DJOKOVIC STUNNED, SABALENKA SURVIVES

On Friday, Novak Djokovic’s bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title ended with a whimper as the defending champion was stunned in the third round by Alexei Popyrin while Aryna Sabalenka survived a late-night scare.

One day after third seed Carlos Alcaraz slumped to a shock defeat against 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp, 25-year-old Popyrin robbed the tournament of another superstar with a 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory.

Djokovic searched in vain for the form that helped him win the Paris Olympics gold this month, as the 37-year-old Serbian crashed to his earliest US Open exit in 18 years that ensured a year without a major for the first time since 2017.

The result will also mark the first time since 2002 that a year will finish without a member of the “Big Three” — Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer — winning a major.

Popyrin will next face Frances Tiafoe, who beat fellow American Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 in a pulsating afternoon contest on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Another American Taylor Fritz eased past Francisco Comesana 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 while men’s fourth seed Alexander Zverev labored on Louis Armstrong Stadium, where he beat Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 in a match that ended at 2:35am — the second latest US Open finish ever.

World number six Andrey Rublev of Russia beat Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 and eighth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud rallied from two sets down to beat 19-year-old Shang Juncheng of China 6-7 (1/7), 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1.

Sabalenka looked shaky after the latest start to a US Open match at 12.08 a.m. local time on Saturday morning but secured a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over 29th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Three-time runner-up Victoria Azarenka could not avoid an exit as the Belarusian fell to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 loss to unseeded Wang Yafan while American Emma Navarro beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024