Top US Open men’s seed Alexander Zverev survived another major scare to come through his second-round encounter against France’s Quentin Halys in five sets on Thursday night.
Zverev, a finalist in 2020 and the reigning French Open champion, has needed five sets in each of his two matches at the US Open so far after coming back from 2-1 down to defeat Lorenzo Sonego in five sets in the opening round.
He similarly struggled against Halys under the lights on Arthur Ashe on Thursday night, prevailing in a marathon 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-3 victory that lasted four hours and 33 minutes and finished at 2:15 a.m. Friday.
Zverev has now spent almost ten hours on court across his opening two rounds and becomes the first men’s top seed to start a Grand Slam campaign with back-to-back five-set victories in the Open Era.
“The performance was quite sh*t, to be honest,” Zverev said in an on-court interview. “That’s what I go to the gym for, that’s what I go to the track for and that’s what I train for, to be able to come out on top in these difficult moments. When you’re not playing your best, when you’re not hitting winners left and right, just getting through these matches.”
He now faces Alejandro Tabilo in the third round after the Chilean saw off Alexei Popyrin in four sets earlier on Thursday.
Women’s No. 4 seed and 2023 champion Coco Gauff also came through a testing encounter on Ashe Thursday night when she saw off Paula Badosa 6-4, 7-6(5) earlier in the evening.
Gauff will now face Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in the third round after coming through a difficult test on a sweltering evening in Queens.
Gauff, who saved a number of break points in the opening set before swapping several breaks with Badosa in an enthralling second set, credited her opponent for “stepping it up.”
“”I saw the draw. Definitely not someone you want to play in the 2nd round. Former number two in the world. Great competitor. I think I need matches like this to build my confidence. I’m happy with how I managed today. There was a bit of nerves,” Gauff said in an on-court interview.
Gauff is one of 15 Americans to reach the US Open third round, the most since 2002. A total of eight women have reached the third round, with seven men reaching the last-32 for the first time since 2012.
Learner Tien is among that cohort after easing to a comfortable straight-sets victory over France’s Gael Monfil in what was Monfils’ last ever match in a grand slam. The No. 14 seed will now face Czechia’s Jakub Mensik in the third round.
Elsewhere, women’s No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina comfortably booked her place in the third round with a straight-sets victory over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain, with American hopeful Taylor Fritz dropping just two games en-route to an emphatic victory over Italy’s Mattia Bellucci earlier on Thursday.
Men’s No. 3 seed Felix Auger Aliassime was shocked earlier on Thursday when he went down in four sets against Karen Khachanov.
