Sinner fights back to beat Shapovalov in four sets

US Open 2025

Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 24 August-7 September

Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website & app

World number one Jannik Sinner fought back from a set down in a testing encounter with Denis Shapovalov to reach the US Open fourth round and continue his title defence.

Italy's Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam champion, defeated Canadian 27th seed Shapovalov 5-7 6-4 6-3 6-3.

Sinner had only lost 11 games across his previous two matches but produced an off-colour performance on Arthur Ashe Stadium, struggling with his serve and producing a number of uncharacteristically loose groundstrokes across the first three sets.

Across the match, he produced five double faults and 36 unforced errors while his first serve percentage was just 58%.

But after saving a break point to avoid going a double-break down in the third set, he then won 12 of the next 15 games to close out the victory.

"It was a very tough match today," said Sinner, who will play either 14th seed Tommy Paul or 23rd seed Alexander Bublik next.

"We've both improved so much [since their last meeting] and I knew I had to play a good level.

"He started well and I tried to stay there mentally. I'm still here and just looking forward to the next match."

Shapovalov flew out of the blocks in the first set, breaking Sinner's serve in the fourth game and losing just four points on his own serve to race into a 5-2 lead.

Sinner hit back as the 26-year-old Canadian served for the set, converting his first break point of the match, but missed out on consecutive breaks before handing Shapovalov a one-set lead with an untimely double fault.

The 24-year-old Italian took control of the second set in the seventh game, pouncing on his first break point opportunity, and later confidently held to love to level the match.

Momentum swung again in the third set as Shapovalov broke Sinner's serve in the second game and held a 30-40 lead in the fourth.

However, he couldn't secure the double break, burying a shot into the net, and it proved to be the turning point in the match.

Sinner won the next two points and, helped by five double faults from Shapovalov, the following eight games to take the third set 6-3 and race into a 3-0 lead in the fourth.

Shapovalov safely navigated deuce in the fourth game to avoid a potential bagel and despite later having a break point, he could do little to stop Sinner's canter to victory.

Elsewhere, 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti is through to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time after fellow Italian Flavio Cobolli was forced to retire injured.

Cobolli, the 24th seed, injured his arm in a fall during the match and received treatment from the trainer three times before retiring in the third set, trailing 6-3 6-2 6-0.

Musetti will face unseeded Spaniard Jaume Munar, who beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs 6-1 6-4 6-4 to advance to the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.