{"id":72749,"date":"2024-08-29T00:33:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T04:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=72749"},"modified":"2024-08-29T08:04:26","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T12:04:26","slug":"us-open-day-3-mens-recap-former-champion-knocked-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/08\/29\/us-open-day-3-mens-recap-former-champion-knocked-out\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open Day 3 Men&#8217;s Recap: Former Champion Knocked Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There was more drama in the men&#8217;s singles of the US Open on Day 3. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2023\/09\/10\/novak-djokovic-wins-us-open-24th-grand-slam\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/06\/09\/alcaraz-reigns-supreme-paris-downs-zverev-five-set-thriller\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">French Open runner-up Alexander Zverev<\/a> were both in action in New York. Relive who impressed, which players struggled, and which match was the best of the day.<\/p>\n<h2>US Open Day 3 Men&#8217;s Recap<\/h2>\n<h4>Who Looked Good<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tennis-infinity.com\/wta\/gauff-overcomes-serving-difficulties-to-progress-to-us-open-third-round\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Novak Djokovic benefited from Laslo Djere&#8217;s retirement in the third set<\/a>. The match was played in intense humidity under the roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium during the night session. Djokovic sometimes struggled with the conditions, but Djere sustained his injury while 4-2 up in the second. His illustrious opponent took advantage and was 6-4 6-4 2-0 up when he decided to end the match.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor Fritz players superbly to overcome the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/07\/11\/novak-djokovic-wins-sixth-wimbledon-federerl-nadal-20-grand-slams\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">2021 Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini<\/a> on Louis Armstrong Stadium. The American did not face a break point in his 6-3 7-6 6-1 triumph. Berrettini could not cope with Fritz&#8217;s serving and baseline game throughout the match.<\/p>\n<p>Ben Shelton was another American who triumphed without losing his serve on Day 3 of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/us-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">US Open<\/a>, beating the veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 6-4 6-4. The Spaniard played well for long periods of the match, but his opponent&#8217;s superior serve put him under constant pressure.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"xtHvyWIAR6RxA_Vt27ZZDg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2168620026\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'xtHvyWIAR6RxA_Vt27ZZDg',sig:'0_dL-vPXcgvsj5DKJDTGRHCW3itFPau_qW5Szn9fQhA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2168620026',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Andrey Rublev needed five sets to make the third round. He was 4-6 5-7 down against Arthur Rinderknech, who knocked out last year&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/wimbledon\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Wimbledon<\/a> quarterfinalist Christopher Eubanks in the previous round. But Rublev responded superbly to ease through the last three sets 6-1 6-2 6-2.<\/p>\n<p>Alexander Zverev played better than in the first round, overcoming Alexandre Muller 6-4 7-6 6-1. He lost a set in his opening match against Maximilian Marterer but was more consistent in his victory against Muller.<\/p>\n<h4>Who Looked Bad<\/h4>\n<p>2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka is out after losing 4-6 6-7 3-6 to Mattia Bellucci. It would be harsh to say the 39-year-old was poor since being on the court at that age is already impressive. However, he did make some surprising errors at key moments, and this was a match he could have won if he had been close to his best.<\/p>\n<p>Rinky Hijikata had a terrible first two sets against Grigor Dimitrov on Day 3, losing them 1-6 1-6. He improved in the third set but lost it on a tiebreak. The Australian&#8217;s level in the opening two sets was among the worst at Flushing Meadows this year. However, despite those difficulties, he deserves credit for continuing to fight hard in the third.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Q5DZvsQLRndPN_haUK9MRA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2169068569\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Q5DZvsQLRndPN_haUK9MRA',sig:'Njs5NuDkuHzNZxzsC6B3pjOEZxtN1LNzJCOeHpwjj-Q=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2169068569',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Match of the Day<\/h4>\n<p>Lorenzo Musetti&#8217;s five-set battle against Miomir Kecmanovic was the best men&#8217;s match on Day 3 of the US Open. The Italian made a slow start to the contest in the opening set. His serve was uncharacteristically wayward, and he was broken twice to lose it 3-6. The Wimbledon semifinalist responded by winning the second set, securing the crucial break in the fifth game.<\/p>\n<p>The third set had three consecutive breaks, with the score tied at 3-3. Two of those went Musetti&#8217;s way, allowing him to serve it out at 5-4 to take a two sets to one lead. But Kecmanovic played his best tennis in the fourth. Incredibly, he broke Musetti three times, claiming the set 6-2 and forcing a deciding set in front of a loud crowd on Court 5.<\/p>\n<p>After the pair traded breaks earlier in the set, Musetti was down a match point at 4-5, but he saved it with an ace. That proved to be the pivotal moment in the match. After holding serve, the Italian won the final two games to seal a dramatic 3-6 6-4 6-4 2-6 7-5 triumph.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was more drama in the men&#8217;s singles of the US Open on Day 3. 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic and French Open runner-up Alexander Zverev were both in action in New York. Relive who impressed, which players struggled, and which match was the best of the day. US Open Day 3 Men&#8217;s Recap [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4708,"featured_media":61344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3,2,9],"tags":[42240,85,13556,511,10566,16662,811,144,411,4775,10332,1694,18322,4359,22,17113,447,115,347],"class_list":["post-72749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-open","category-atp","category-featured","category-news","tag-2024-us-open","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-alexandre-muller","tag-andrey-rublev","tag-arthur-rinderknech","tag-ben-shelton","tag-casper-ruud","tag-gael-monfils","tag-grigor-dimitrov","tag-laslo-djere","tag-lorenzo-musetti","tag-matteo-berrettini","tag-mattia-bellucci","tag-miomir-kecmanovic","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-rinky-hijikata","tag-roberto-bautista-agut","tag-stan-wawrinka","tag-taylor-fritz"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4708"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}