Key events
Evans breaks in seventh game of third set!
Third set: Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 3-4 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Well, well, well. Alcaraz quickly goes double break point down. He saves the first with a forehand volley winner for 30-40, but Evans rips a backhand passing return winner on the next point to get the break!
Third set: *Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 3-3 Evans (*denotes next server)
Evans holds easily, closing it out with a 100mph ace out wide. That’s 12 of 14 points won on his serve in this set.
Third set: Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 3-2 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Alcaraz opens with a 125mph ace and 126mph unreturnable. Evans gets it to 30-all but the No 1 seed holds easily from there, capping it with a forehand winner.
Meanwhile, Draper is serving at 6-4 6-4 3-5 5-3 for a place in the fourth round.
Third set: *Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 2-2 Evans (*denotes next server)
Evans holds at love. But can he make any progress on the Spaniard’s serve?
Third set: Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 2-1 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Another love hold for Alcaraz, who punctuates it with a nifty forehand passing winner. He’s won the last 10 points on his serve.
Over on Grandstand, Draper has just broken Mmoh for 4-2 in the fourth. He’s just a couple of holds away from a place in the round of 16,.
Third set: *Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 1-1 Evans (*denotes next server)
A straightforward hold for the Briton, who cracks his fourth ace of the afternoon along the way.
Third set: Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 1-0 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Alcaraz holds at love to open the third.
Over on Armstrong, Keys has won the second set by a 6-2 score over Samsonova to force a decider.
Alcaraz wins second set, 6-3!
Alcaraz breaks in ninth game of second set!
Second set: Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3 Evans
The pressure just doesn’t stop. Evans goes break and set point down at 30-40, but saves it for deuce. Goes set point down again, but saves it with a crisp forehand. Goes set point down a third time, but this time Alcaraz converts with a forehand volley winner to cap a 12-shot rally. Simply too good.
Second set: Alcaraz 6-2, 5-3 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Another easy hold for Alcaraz, who’s won 11 of the last 12 points on his serve. Evans will serve to stay in the second set.
Second set: *Alcaraz 6-2, 4-3 Evans (*denotes next server)
Serving at love-15, Evans wins what might be the point of the tournament so far, an all-court 17-shot exchange that ends when he fires a tracer running backwards from beyond the baseline that a lunging Alcaraz can barely get a racket on. Alcaraz gets it to 30-all but Evans holds from there.
Second set: Alcaraz 6-2, 4-2 Evans* (*denotes next server)
A stress-free hold for Alcaraz after three straight complicated service games.
Over on Armstrong, Keys has broken for a 3-1 lead in the second set against Samsonova after dropping the first by a 5-7 score.
Alcaraz breaks in third game of second set!
Second set: *Alcaraz 6-2, 3-2 Evans (*denotes next server)
A moment of danger for Evans, who biffs an overhand then double-faults to fall behind love-30. He fights back for 30-all but follows with an unforced error – his ninth of the second set already after just four in the first – to go break point down. He erases it with a big second serve that Alcaraz can’t return, but the Spaniard earns a second break chance with a backhand winner. Another break-point opportunity and this time Alcaraz converts after Evans makes another unforced error off the forehand side.
Mmoh has just taken the third set from Draper on Grandstand, through Draper still leads 6-4 6-2 3-6. Elsewhere, Arnaldi has won the first set by a 6-3 score over Norrie.
Second set: Alcaraz 6-2, 2-2 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Another tricky service game for Alcaraz, who goes down love-15, then 15-30, then break point down at 30-40. The unforced errors are creeping into the Spaniard’s game, as they did for stretches of Wednesday’s second-round win: four already in the second set after seven in the entire opener. But Alcaraz saves the break point with another forehand winner and holds comfortably from there.
Alcaraz breaks in third game of second set!
Second set: *Alcaraz 6-2, 1-2 Evans (*denotes next server)
They say it’s not really a break until you consolidate on your serve. They may be right. Evans goes down love-15, then 15-30. He responds with a terrific backhand that Alcaraz can’t handle for 30-all. But he follows it with his second and third double faults of the afternoon to hand Alcaraz the break on a silver platter. Back on level terms in set two.
Evans breaks in second game of second set!
Second set: Alcaraz 6-2, 0-2 Evans* (*denotes next server)
A second straight complicated service game for Alcaraz after he’d breezed through his first three. He double-faults to open then sees Evans hit a backhand overhand winner for love-30. Alcaraz get it to 30-all, but follows with a backhand unforced error for 30-40 and break point. And Evans capitalizes! He strikes a gorgeous backhand passing shot winner to lock down the break and take early control of the second set against the world’s top-ranked player!
Second set: *Alcaraz 6-2, 0-1 Evans (*denotes next server)
Good start to the second set for Evans, who holds at love while cracking a 117mph ace out wide along the way.
Elsewhere, Draper has been broken in his opening service game of the third set. But the unseeded Brit is still in the driver’s seat, leading 6-4 6-2 1-3. And on Armstrong, Samsonova has just broken Keys with a return winner for 6-5 in their opening set. The 14th-seeded Russian will try to serve out the set after the change of ends.
Alcaraz wins first set, 6-2!
First set: Alcaraz 6-2 Evans
Evans gets to 30-all on the Spaniard’s serve for the first time today, then 30-40 with a blistering forehand into the corner that Alcaraz can’t return into the court. It’s Evans’s first break-point chance of the day … and Alcaraz brushes it aside with a 102mph second-serve ace down the middle. Evans charges the net on the next point and forces Alcaraz into an error for a second break point, but Alcaraz saves that one too with a 111mph kick serve out wide that Evans can’t handle. Evans, fighting, wins a baseline exchange for a third break point, but squanders it with an unforced error off the backhand. Alcaraz then earns another set point with a powerful forehand winner, but follows it with a double fault for a fourth deuce. Then a fifth. But Alcaraz is able to hold from there and the take the 47-minute opening set with a final game that spanned nearly 10 minutes and 16 points.
First set: *Alcaraz 5-2 Evans (*denotes next server)
Evans, who suddenly can’t get a first serve in, falls behind 15-40 to give Alcaraz a pair of set points. The Spaniard is putting on a clinic: bruising power, deft movement, pretty shotmaking. Evans is able to save both of them and grind out the hold from there.
Meanwhile, Draper has taken a 6-4 6-2 lead over Mmoh, who is coming off a five-set win over John Isner in which he saved match point.
First set: Alcaraz 5-1 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Another easy hold for Alcaraz, who’s won 12 of 15 points on his serve. Evans will serve to stay in this opening set.
First set: *Alcaraz 4-1 Evans (*denotes next server)
Evans gets on the board with a comfortable hold of serve.
Elsewhere, the No 13 seed Kasatkina has just finished off a 6-3 6-4 win over Minnen on Court 17, setting the stage for a meeting with Sabalenka on Monday in the round of 16.
First set: Alcaraz 4-0 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Alcaraz rattles off four staccato points to hold at love.
Over on Armstrong, Liudmila Samsonova and Madison Keys have gotten under way in their third-round match with each player holding their opening service games.
Alcaraz breaks in third game of first set!
First set: *Alcaraz 3-0 Evans (*denotes next server)
Evans quickly goes triple break point down. He’s able to save two of them for 30-40, but Alcaraz rips a forehand passing shot winner on the third for the double break. The top-seeded Spaniard has come out red hot today.
First set: Alcaraz 2-0 Evans* (*denotes next server)
Alcaraz breezes through his opening service game to back up the break.
Elsewhere on the grounds Draper is leading 6-4 4-0 over Mmoh on Grandstand, while Sabalenka has closed out a 6-1 6-1 win in one hour flat over Burel.
Alcaraz breaks in first game of first set!
First set: *Alcaraz 1-0 Evans (*denotes next server)
Evans’ first serve is not cooperating early as Alcaraz gets the opening game to 30-all. The Spaniard then rips a backhand return winner for 30-40 and an early break-point opportunity. Evans saves it, then saves another moments later for a second deuce. Evans then double-faults, gifting Alcaraz a third chance at a break. This time he capitalizes, cracking a forehand winner to settle a highlight-reel 24-stroke exchange.
Britain’s Jack Draper has taken the first set from Michael Mmoh of the United States over on Grandstand. The 123rd-ranked Draper has won all seven sets he’s played at Flushing Meadows. He’s held serve in 30 of 33 games so far while converting 13 of 26 break points.
The second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka is flying along over on Armstrong. She’s up a set and a break against France’s Clara Burel with one foot in the fourth round, where she will face the winner of the Daria Kasatkina-Greet Minnen match currently unfolding on Court 17. A semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows last year and the year before, Sabalenka can overtake Iga Swiatek as world No 1 if she can equal the young Pole’s result here.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for today’s sixth day of the US Open. It’s a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Queens – 74F (23C) with light wind and hardly a cloud in the sky – as the top half of the men’s draw looks to book passage to the round of 16.
First up on Arthur Ashe Stadium is a third-round clash between Britain’s Dan Evans and Carlos Alcaraz, the world’s top-ranked player (for another nine days at least) and defending US Open champion who is coming in off a drama-free second-round win over Lloyd Harris.
It promises to be a stuff test for the 26th-seeded Evans, who is aiming to become the third British man to defeat a world No 1 at a grand slam after Andy Murray and Greg Rusedski. But he is coming into the match on a tailwind of optimism, as our Tumaini Carayol notes:
The past few weeks, however, have been particularly significant in the context of Evans’ career. Before the US hard court summer, it had been one of his most difficult periods since he returned from his doping ban after testing positive for cocaine.
Between February and July, Evans had compiled a dire five-win, 14-defeat record and he had lost in the first round at 12 of those events. After the French Open, a straight-sets loss to the world No 108, Thanasi Kokkinakis, he was deeply frustrated and at a loss about how to dig himself out of the hole. He eventually opted to split from his coach, Sebastián Prieto, and the rest of his Argentinian team.
But things can change very quickly in tennis. After starting his North American hard-court swing with a first round loss to the world No 88, Dominic Köpfer, in Atlanta, Evans headed to Washington, an ATP 500 event, where he lost the first set to Grégoire Barrère 6-2.
Suddenly, everything clicked into place. He breezed through the rest of the week without dropping a set, defeating top opposition in Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov, world Nos 10 and 20 respectively, while playing perhaps the best tennis of his entire career. His smooth, varied and attacking all-court game was in full flow as he won his biggest title to date.
The players should be on court in about 10 minutes. In the meantime, we’ll catch you up with some of the other early happenings around the grounds.