The world No. 1 rallied from a double-break down in the opening set to solve Paul and book a third major meeting of the year with rival Daniil Medvedev.
NEW YORK—They call it Labor Day for a reason. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner got to work Monday evening to put away Tommy Paul, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1 to complete the slate of 2024 US Open quarterfinalists and book an intriguing clash with 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev.
The top seed trailed Paul, seeded fourteenth, by a quick double break in the opening set only to reel off four straight games and reclaim the momentum, ultimately advancing into his second quarterfinal in Flushing Meadows after two hours 42 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sinner made the last eight for the first time in 2022, narrowly losing to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in five thrilling sets under the Ashe Stadium lights. Two years later, the 23-year-old arrived to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center a vastly different player, having beaten Medvedev in five sets to capture his first major trophy at the Australian Open in January.
Ostensibly carrying much momentum to New York after winning the Cincinnati Open only three weeks ago, Sinner instead had to shake off the controversial news that he had been found to bear No Fault or Negligence from a heretofore unknown pair of positive anti-doping tests back in March. Sinner had successfully appealed the accompanying provisional suspensions but nonetheless faces criticism for the fact that he had come into contact with the banned substance clostebol vis à vis treatments from now-former physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi.
Sinner later revealed he had parted ways with Naldi and fitness coach Umberto Ferrara, who had reportedly given Naldi the antiseptic spray containing clostebol. Declaring himself “a simple tennis player,” Sinner sought to put the affair behind him the only way he could, by winning on the court.
That task proved relatively easy through the first week, dropping just one set in his first three matches and improving with each round, dropping a combined 12 games against Alex Michelson and Christopher O’Connell to book a fourth career meeting with Paul.
Sinner improved to 3-1 in his head-to-head with Paul, who was looking to reach his first US Open quarterfinal.
As the first seed Sinner would face at the Open, Paul proved to be a major step up in challenge and had put in the work to return to the second week for the second year in a row. Winning a pair of four-setters against Lorenzo Sonego and Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo, Paul has shown impressive consistency at the major tournaments, posting quarterfinal finishes at both Wimbledon and the Summer Olympic Games, where he went on to win bronze in men’s doubles with Taylor Fritz.
Having beaten Sinner once in 2022, Paul looked poised to score a second career victory over a reigning No. 1—his first coming last summer in Canada against Carlos Alcaraz—when he raced out to a 4-1, double-break lead.
A disastrous lapse in focus saw Sinner rebound in style and win four straight games of his own to put the match back on even footing. Though Paul pushed the set to a tiebreaker, Sinner never looked in danger throughout the ensuing Sudden Death and put himself a crucial set to the good.
The second set was much closer throughout as Sinner and Paul traded holds of serve to reach another tiebreaker. Paul brought an enthusiastic crowd to its feet when he edged ahead by a mini-break, but Sinner broke back and benefitted from a pair of return misses from Paul to claim the second set in just over two hours.
Sinner parlayed that advantage into a commanding 3-0 lead to kick off the third, and though the diminished crowd—which largely began an Irish goodbye after the second set—tried to rally Paul (or at least taunt Sinner) into a break back, Sinner appeared increasingly unstoppable as he moved within two games of the quarterfinals.
Rowdy hecklers in the upper decks only seemed to unsettle Paul, who fell behind 0-40 in the sixth game and gave up a second break shortly thereafter.
Serving for the match, Sinner saved two break points from 15-40 down—one with an ace—and converted his first match point as Paul erred long off a final forehand.
Standing between Sinner and a first US Open semifinal is former champion and former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, who lost their Australian Open epic but won their most recent meeting at Wimbledon less than two months ago. Medvedev has rolled through his last three matches, posting a 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Nuno Borges earlier in the day.
“I will try to think more about Wimbledon than Australian Open,” Medvedev joked. “But against Jannik...I feel like in a way we know our game, what we will try to bring on the table.
“Hopefully we can have a great match. I know if I want to beat him, I need to be at my best, which I managed to do couple of times. It’s going to be a great match.”
The Turning Point
Two hours into a high quality fourth-round tussle at the US Open on Monday night, the second set of Jannik Sinner’s duel with Tommy Paul was yet to be decided. After the crushing blow of conceding an extremely tight first set, Paul admirably fought back to force a second tie-break with an array of bold shot-making and confident forays to the net. The No 14 seed took a narrow 5-4 lead to be two points away from levelling the match at one set all.
The critical points are where the best players in the world so often separate themselves from the rest, and on Arthur Ashe Stadium they marked the difference between the two. After Paul missed two consecutive backhand second serve returns from 5-4 in the tie-break, Sinner pounced on the first set point without hesitation, lasering a brilliant forehand return that would lead to him establishing a two-set lead.
Sinner pulled away in all of the decisive moments and, in the process, produced a performance worthy of a world No 1 to move into the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Paul.
“I always get more excited also when [I] play important points, important moments,” said Sinner on his clutch play. “In my mind, this is what we practice for. This is why you make repetition in the practice courts, and where you feel more safe, where you have to maybe change up [a] couple of things trying to surprise him. You have to serve a bit smarter. In the second-set tie-break I didn’t serve very well, but trying to find a solution somehow.”
The Road Ahead
In a draw that has been wide open since the early upsets of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, the second and third seeds, Sinner further underlined his credentials as favourite to win his second grand slam title of the year. This draw, however, is extremely lopsided. The Italian will next face the only other grand slam champion in the draw, Daniil Medvedev, who is also the only remaining former US Open champion. Medvedev looked in imperious form earlier on Monday as he rolled past Nuno Borges 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
Throughout this year, Sinner has played with a level of consistency that no men’s player beyond Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray has achieved in recent years. Sinner’s record in 2024 now stands at 52-5 (91%) and he is 32-2 (94%) on hard courts. According to Opta, he is the second-youngest player in history to reach the quarter-finals in each of his first 12 tournaments of the year.
This latest run comes two weeks after Sinner and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that the Italian had failed two anti-doping tests for the banned substance clostebol, before an independent tribunal ruled that Sinner bore no fault or negligence for the positive test.
Sinner successfully argued that the positive tests had been a result of contamination due to his physiotherapist treating a cut on his finger with an over-the-counter spray that contained clostebol and then inadvertently transferring it to Sinner through his daily massage treatments. The 23-year-old had been able to successfully lift the automatic provisional ban, meaning that he continued competing for five months without his positive test being publicly disclosed.
A Sinner's Touch
It was Paul who set the tone early in the fourth-round encounter, his all-court game in full flow from the beginning as he launched into forehands, swept forward to the net and established a 4-1 first set lead with two breaks. Having looked sluggish for most of the set, Sinner’s level rose rapidly and he dragged himself back into the match by forcing himself inside the baseline and dominating the exchanges with his far greater pace and weight of shot. In the tie-break, Sinner smothered Paul with his greater weaponry as he edged out the first set.
Paul immediately shook off the disappointment of losing the first set and kept hold of his serve brilliantly throughout the second. As they convened in the second set tie-break, Paul played some of his best tennis of the night to reach 5-4. The trajectory of the match was determined by just three service returns as Paul missed two backhand returns and then Sinner eviscerated a forehand return on set point, which allowed him to put away an easy forehand.
Having established a two-set lead, Sinner rolled through the third set to return to the quarter-finals at the US Open for the third time in his career. “The margins were very small,” said Paul. “For me that’s motivation. Obviously we have two Americans still left in the tournament, but it’s never really felt this open, in a way.”
Elsewhere, Iga Swiatek continued to build momentum in the top half of the draw as she returned to the quarter-finals with an efficient 6-4, 6-0 win over Liudmila Samsonova, the 16th seed. The women’s world No 1’s win sets up an exciting quarter-final against Jessica Pegula.
Pegula continued her summer resurgence as she defeated Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-2. The sixth seed has now reached seven grand slam quarter-finals but still seeks her first major semi-final. In order to break new ground, she will have to topple the best player in the world.
