A COUPLE of seeds fell in intriguing circumstances to finish off the first week of 2021 US Open action, as three five-set battles played out to complete the third round.

Of the few upsets, a victory to wildcard Jenson Brooksby took the cake as the American downed 21st seed Aslan Karatsev in five sets, 6-2 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-3. Brooksby fired from the opening game as he sped through the first set before his Russian opponent pulled one back, and then the next as the odds turned in his favour. But the in-form 20-year-old American was backed by a home crowd and built off that support to clinch a huge victory in three hours and 50 minutes, hitting just 22 winners but forcing Karatsev into all sorts of issues as the Russian led the unforced error count 6-1 36.

“Today was a battle obviously. I don’t know how long it was, but I thought I started out solid. Good first set. Still a couple things I could have done better,” Brooksby said post-match. “I just lost the mental energy way too much in the second set and third set. “That’s not really easy to come back from, but I just told myself to keep staying in the present moment, keep breathing, keep staying positive, focus on what I’m working on out there. That showed in being able to turn it around today.”

“The crowd played a big role, definitely. Them chanting, cheering me on, it gave me a lot of energy to come back down [from] two sets to one. It was a rough couple sets,” Brooksby said. “Whether it was just my group, even friends I had here, the whole crowd in general with the full stadium, it was great to see them behind me. I really enjoyed that.”

Lloyd Harris also created a stir with his straight sets 6-4 6-4 6-4 swipe of Canadian seventh seed Denis Shapovalov, earning the two hour and 12-minute victory credit to a 75 per cent win rate off a 72 per cent clip coupled with 27 winners and just 23 unforced errors to Shapovalov’s 40. Meanwhile, qualifier Oscar Otte fights another day following a 6-3 6-4 2-6 7-5 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi, firing off 15 aces on his way to a maiden fourth round berth.

All of the day’s remaining seeds found wins, with a couple of Italians in sixth seed Matteo Berrettini and 13th seed Jannik Sinner both claiming five set victories. A tight first set loss to Ilya Ivashka saw Berrettini fight to regain control, taking out the second and third sets before Ivashka bit back in the fourth to take the match to a decider. But winning experience won out, as the Italian seed completed the 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-3 with 27 aces to his name and a win rate of 84 per cent off his first serve. Comparatively, Sinner fought off a third and fourth set surge from 17th seed Gael Monfils, losing a 4-0 lead in the fourth before coming back to win the fifth. The 20-year-old earned his way through to the fourth round here for the first time with the eventual 7-6(1) 6-2 4-6 4-6 6-4 result.

“The atmosphere is insane so thank you to everyone for coming out today,” Sinner said post-match. “When this atmosphere is here, Monfils plays incredible tennis. I had chances in the third set and fourth set and I didn’t manage to close it out. But I managed to stay there and I am very happy about the match today.”

“I like playing best of five,” he said. “Maybe it is better if I can close it out a little bit earlier, but it is a great feeling. You have some tough moments and you have to get through them. Then in the important moments, you have to play your best tennis, which I have done.”

Sinner fought through Monfils’ 61 winners (21 aces) but had a whopping 30 less unforced errors 48-78 and capitalised more off his second serve, winning 55 per cent of points compared to Monfils’ 37 per cent off a similar second serve count.

The remaining three matches all saw fairly comprehensive and predictable victories, as Novak Djokovic took down Kei Nishikori for the 17th consecutive time despite dropping the first set, while Alexander Zverev earned a speedier result than expected thanks to a fourth set retirement from American Jack Sock. 22nd seed Reilly Opelka was much more fortunate than Sock and joined Brooksby on the winners list following a three-set victory over Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6(5) 6-3 6-4.

US OPEN ROUND OF 32 RESULTS: 

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated Kei Nishikori (JPN) 6-7 6-3 6-3 6-2
[4] Alexander Zverev (GER) defeated Jack Sock (USA) 3-6 6-2 6-3 2-1
[6] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) defeated Ilya Ivashka (BLR) 6-7 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-3
Lloyd Harris (RSA) defeated [7] Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 6-4 6-4 6-4
[13] Jannik Sinner (ITA) defeated [17] Gael Monfils (FRA) 7-6 6-2 4-6 4-6 6-4
Jenson Brooksby (USA) defeated [21] Aslan Karatsev (RUS) 6-2 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-3
[22] Reilly Opelka (USA) defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 7-6 6-3 6-4
Oscar Otte (GER) defeated Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-3 6-4 2-6 7-5

Picture credit: Brad Penner/USTA