RED-HOT Australian Alexei Popyrin was already in the form of his life, but that form got even better when he incredibly knocked out defending champion and world number two Novak Djokovic in the third round of the US Open. A day after Carlos Alcaraz was skittled by Botic Van de Zandschulp, the 28th seed went one better, rolling the 24-time Grand Slam winner to reach the Round of 16.

In a performance where Popyrin was as impressive as Djokovic was disappointing, the Australian was clearly the better player on the day, and hit 10 more winners than his opponent (50-40) while only producing the one more unforced error (50-49).

In the second set alone, Djokovic hit 14 unforced errors to just eight winners, and by that time he was two sets down and in real trouble. Popyrin had steadied in the second set to not face a break point, while breaking once to be able to win the set and go 2-0 up.

Many times over the journey Djokovic has shown a willingness to fight his way back from the brink, and that was on display early as he saved all three break points in the third and Popyrin’s consistency dropped off. The Australian hit 18 unforced errors which opened the door for Djokovic who broke twice and was able to keep himself in the match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

However the fairytale of the world number two coming back from the depths of defeat to claim a record 25th Grand Slam title was not to be, as Popyrin stepped back up to the plate by not leaving anything on the court. Smashing a ridiculous 21 winners in the set, Popyrin was able to break twice from six chances, while batting off seven out of eight break point opportunities to seal the 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4 victory in three hours and 19 minutes.

After losing to Djokovic in four sets at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, Popyrin had a simple response as to how he got the job done in New York.

“Third time lucky I guess,” Popyrin said post-match. “Honestly, we had some battles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. I had my chances in those matches, but didn’t take them. This match was a little different. I was able to take my chances when I had them and played some good tennis.

“It’s unbelievable because I’ve been in the third round about 15 times in my career, but I haven’t been able to get past to the fourth round,” Popyrin said. “To be able to do it against the greatest of all time to get into the fourth round is unbelievable. It’s a great feeling and the hard work has paid off.”

Djokovic did not hold back when assessing his own performance in the loss.

“He definitely played better and deserved to win today,” he said. “I mean, on my end, honestly, the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament, third round is a success. I mean, I have played some of the worst tennis I have ever played, honestly, serving by far the worst ever.

“Yeah, it was just an awful match for me.”

Popyrin will now set his sights on local hope and US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe who came back from two sets to one down against countryman and 13th seed Ben Shelton in four hours and three minutes.

AROUND THE COURTS

Tiafoe was not the only American through to the Round of 16 with Brandon Nakashima defeating 18th seed Lorenzo Musetti in four sets, while top ranked United States representative Taylor Fritz ended the run of Argentinian Francisco Comesana in straight sets.

Eighth seed Casper Ruud found his top level just in time, coming back from two sets to love down against Chinese teenager Juncheng Shang and only drop four games in the last three sets during the 6-7 3-6 6-0 6-3 6-1 victory. Sixth seed Andrey Rublev and ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov also claimed straight sets victories.