NEW YORK: Reigning champion Jannik Sinner came through a testing encounter with Canadian 27th seed Denis Shapovalov on Saturday to book his place in the US Open last 16.
World number one Sinner rallied from a set down to beat Shapovalov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and keep alive his bid to become the first man to retain the title in New York since Roger Federer in 2008.
“A very, very tough match today. I’ve known Denis for quite a long time. I knew that I had to play at a very high level,” said Sinner, who lost his previous meeting with Shapovalov at the 2021 Australian Open.
Sinner awaits the winner of the evening session match between US 14th seed Tommy Paul and Alexander Bublik, the 23rd seed from Kazakhstan.
“Week two is completely different. It’s always a great sight that I’m still here. It’s getting tougher and tougher, also physically and mentally,” said Sinner.
The Italian made serene progress through the first two rounds but dropped his first set of the tournament against a resurgent Shapovalov, a former top-10 player whose career was stalled by injury.
A US Open quarter-finalist in 2020, Shapovalov signalled his intent with a break in the fourth game and raced 5-2 ahead in the first set.
Sinner broke to get back on serve but Shapovalov produced a gutsy hold, saving a break point for 6-5 before taking the next game and the set.
Top seed Sinner punished a slack service game from Shapovalov at 3-3 in the second set as he dragged himself back into the match at a set apiece.
Shapovalov responded by breaking early in the third set and surging into a 3-0 lead, but he couldn’t sustain his level and a defiant Sinner hit back by winning nine games on the spin.
The Canadian offered some belated resistance but by then it was too late as Sinner sealed his 24th successive Grand Slam match win on hard courts.
Sinner has reached the final of all three Grand Slams this season, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon either side of a defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open.
Federer is the last man to successfully defend the US Open, winning the title each year from 2004-08.
Sinner repels Shapovalov to reach US Open last 16
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Sinner repels Shapovalov to reach US Open last 16
- World number one Sinner rallied from a set down to beat Shapovalov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
Smylie wins on LIV Golf debut, leads Ripper GC to team title in Riyadh
- Jon Rahm and Torque GC finish second in the individual and team competitions respectively
RIYADH: Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith believes his new teammate Elvis Smylie can one day become the best golfer in the world. After the 23-year-old Australian produced four sizzling rounds to win on his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the league may very well share the same sentiment.
Smylie capped off an impressive first week under the lights at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh, shooting a final-round bogey-free 8-under 64 on Saturday to hold off a hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke. He also led the Rippers to the team title, as the Aussies swept both trophies going into their biggest tournament of the season at LIV Golf Adelaide next week.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here. I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”
Smith agreed. “The crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week. I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down.”
With the win, Smylie earns the projected points allotted by the Official World Golf Ranking to the winner of this week’s LIV Golf tournament. The OWGR announced earlier this week that points will be awarded for LIV Golf tournaments this season to the top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to move up significantly with the victory.
Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in league history, a byproduct perhaps of the league’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes. He also beat the biggest field in LIV Golf history after an increase from 54 to 57 players this season.
But more impressive than the raw numbers was Smylie’s sublime play, especially with a new blade putter. “Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who ranked third in the field in strokes gained putting.
He needed a hot putter down the stretch to create some separation from the field, then withstand the last-ditch rally by Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time LIV Golf individual champion.
Rahm started the day two shots behind co-leaders Smylie and Peter Uihlein and was three strokes behind when Smylie birdied the par-4 12th. But the Spaniard closed fast with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.
He drove the green at the 396-yard par-4 18th but could not convert the eagle putt. Still, his final birdie put the finishing touches on a 9-under bogey-free 63, the lowest round of the week, and reduced Smylie’s lead to one.
Smylie, however, was not aware of the slim margin until hitting his approach shot at the 18th that left him on the edge of the green.
“I actually didn’t know that I had to two-putt the last green,” he said. “I thought I would have had a two-shot lead going into 18. But as soon as I was walking up the green, I saw that I only had one, so I’m like, I’ve got to clutch up here and make sure to get this up-and-down.”
Rahm, who shot a final-round 11-under 60 in his last regular-season LIV Golf tournament in Indianapolis last year to clinch his second consecutive season-long title, pointed to his failure to make birdie at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach shot at the par-4 11th as missed opportunities. Even so, he was pleased with making a run to earn his fifth runner-up finish and 25th top-10 result in 27 regular-season LIV Golf appearances.
“It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to look at, I’ve got to go to earlier in the week.”
RangeGoats GC’s Uihlein finished third after shooting a 67 for 21 under, while Fireballs GC’s David Puig and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters shot 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.
The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque. The Australians started off fast, with Marc Leishman beginning his round with four straight birdies; the team collectively was 11 under through their first six holes.
Torque responded with Ancer, making his first start for his new team after four years with Fireballs GC, and Sebastian Munoz each shooting 66.
But the 64s by Smylie and Lucas Herbert were supported by Smith’s 65 and Leishman’s 69 to produce a fourth-round team score of 26 under, the third-best single round team score in league history. Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular-season team title by three shots.
