The fourth round is set at the US Open following six days full of action. One top eight seed went out on Saturday as Roberto Bautista Agut lost in five sets to Vasek Pospisil. Some matches failed to live up to the expectations, as Marin Cilic threw in a very mediocre performance against second seed Dominic Thiem.
US Open Day 6 Recap
Strong performances
Andrey Rublev demolished Salvatore Caruso in just 86 minutes. The Russian blasted 17 aces on the way to a 6-0 6-4 6-0 win. Rublev won 60% of the points on Caruso’s serve and besides a small slip-up when he gave away a break leading 6-0 4-1, dominated the play on his forehand. The Italian had no idea how to deal with Rublev’s power and at times looked as if he just wanted it to end as soon possible.
Following a great win over Andy Murray, Felix Auger-Aliassime served yet another flattening to Corentin Moutet. The Canadian won 6-1 6-0 6-4 in under two hours and at one point lost just three points in five consecutive games. Highlighted by 14 forehand winners, Auger-Aliassime’s power was too much for Moutet to handle. The Frenchman tried breaking up the rhythm of the rallies but was rarely successful.
Last year’s semifinalist Matteo Berrettini is going strong as well with a 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory over Casper Ruud. The Italian saved all five break points faced and served a total of 13 aces.
Must-watch matches that turned out not to be so exciting
Marin Cilic is not the player he was when he won the US Open six years ago but he was still expected to give Dominic Thiem at least some trouble. Cilic’s forehand leaked errors in the first two sets as the second seed dominated the game on his serve and broke the Croat four times to take each of them by six games to two.
The 2014 champion finally managed to find a better patch of play in set three, breaking Thiem to go up 4-2. Cilic committed 12 unforced errors off the ground in set one and limiting himself to just three in nine games brought him a chance to stay in the match. The fourth set was again much closer than the first two but Cilic failed to convert any of his five break-point opportunities. Thiem, meanwhile, broke in the sixth game and served it out until the end, finishing with a 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 scoreline.
Frances Tiafoe against Marton Fucsovics seemed to be a matchup that will get the players involved in yet another grueling physical battle. If anything, Tiafoe was the one expected to struggle more with his recovery. But the American played a very patient and solid game, impressing especially on his shot selection, which generally isn’t what he’s known for. Fucsovics, on the other hand, was not moving well from the get-go and looked slow, presumably as a result of his five-set battle against Grigor Dimitrov. Tiafoe was broken just once and won 23/27 points at the net in a clean 6-2 6-3 6-2 victory.
Match of the day
Western & Southern Open semifinalist Roberto Bautista Agut lost in five sets to Vasek Pospisil. Despite a great start from the Canadian, Bautista Agut looked well on his way to a win as he led two sets to one and Pospisil had to take a medical timeout. His fitness looked suspect especially as he was coming from a very long four-set win over Milos Raonic in the second run. Oddly enough, the Canadian regrouped and played a beautiful brand of first-strike tennis to a 7-5 2-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 win. Pospisil was the much more active player in the whole match, hitting 71 winners to Bautista Agut’s 21.
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