No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev, the only former champion left on the men’s side, rolled into the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Monday, sweeping unseeded Nuno Borges 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 at New York.
Medvedev, who won the U.S. Open in 2021, won 78 percent of his first-serve points (36 of 46) and saved 4 of 5 break points against the overmatched Borges of Portugal, who committed 51 unforced errors to just 20 for the powerful Russian.
“I try to work hard. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t,” Medvedev said in a postmatch interview. “There are days when it is tougher to go out on court and practice, but I have the mentality that if the other guy practices more than me, I have less chances to win, and I want to win all the time. So I try to practice as much as I can.
“I’ve had a lot of success here at the U.S. Open and last time I lost in the fourth round was against (Nick Kyrgios). Good memories.”
Borges finally got a point in the second set, going up 1-0 in his second appearance in the fourth round of a Grand Slam event. He then committed several mistakes that Medvedev capitalized on to go up two sets.
Borges also took the lead in the third set, but after a brief delay due to a fire alarm, Medvedev bounced back to take five of the next games to finish off the match.
Medvedev’s quarterfinal opponent will be either No. 1 Jannik Sinner or No. 14 Tommy Paul, who are scheduled to play later on Monday.
In other men’s Round of 16 play, No. 25 Jack Draper cruised past unseeded Tomas Machac 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 to become the first British man to reach the U.S. Open quarters since the newly retired Andy Murray in 2016.
“I obviously miss Andy. Shoutout to Andy,” Draper said. “What an unbelievable career the guy’s had. Just an icon of the game. I miss him in the change rooms. I miss being next to his stinky shoes and all his stinky clothes. Andy’s a legend, and if I have half the career he had, then I’ll be a happy man.”
Draper posted 11 aces to Machac’s five and won 78 percent of his first-serve points (29 of 37) and landed 36 winners to 23 for his Czech opponent. Draper also saved all six break points he faced.
Draper, who last year lost in the fourth round, will face the winner of No. 10 Alex de Minaur or Jordan Thompson, a pair of Australians set to face off later Monday.
–Field Level Media
