Sinner avoids US Open trapdoor as Swiatek moves into last 16

Jannik Sinner avoided plunging through the US Open trapdoor which claimed Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz when he stormed into the last 16 on Saturday as fellow world number one Iga Swiatek stayed on course for a second New York triumph.

Australian Open champion Sinner raced past 87th-ranked Christopher O'Connell 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. The 23-year-old Italian's win came a day after four-time champion Djokovic was sent spinning to his earliest loss in New York in 18 years by Alexei Popyrin. One day earlier, 2022 winner Alcaraz was defeated in the second round by Dutch journeyman Botic van de Zandschulp.

Sinner will take on 14th seed Tommy Paul for a quarter-final place after the American defeated Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo in four sets. There were 14 breaks of serve in that tie with Diallo, ranked a lowly 143 in the world, undone by 77 unforced errors.

Four-time French Open champion Swiatek was just as dominant as Sinner as the top-seeded Pole eased into the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The 23-year-old didn't face a single break point and will face another Russian, Liudmila Samsonova for a quarterfinal place.

With Djokovic and Alcaraz heading home to Europe, Daniil Medvedev finds himself as the only former champion left in the men's tournament. The Russian, seeded fifth, beat Italian World No. 31 Flavio Cobolli, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round. Next up for Medvedev is unseeded Nuno Borges of Portugal who saved three match points in a five-set triumph over Czech teenager Jakub Mensik. Britain's Jack Draper reached the last 16 for a second successive year by defeating Alcaraz's conqueror Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, 2023 semi-finalist Karolina Muchova, who knocked out two-time champion Naomi Osaka in the second round, cruised into the last 16 by beating Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-2. She next faces French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini, the fifth-seeded Italian, who beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-4.

US sixth seed Jessica Pegula made the second week for a third successive season by defeating Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-3, 6-3. Pegula next faces Diana Shnaider, the 18th-seeded Russian who made the fourth round of a Slam for the first time by seeing off 37-year-old Sara Errani in straight sets.