Novak Djokovic beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie in four sets on Friday to became the oldest man to reach the U.S. Open last 16 since Jimmy Connors in 1991.
The 38-year-old Djokovic earned a record 192nd Grand Slam match win on hard courts as he defeated Norrie 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-3, staying in the hunt for an unprecedented 25th major title.
“Coming into any match you really want to win in straight sets without any drama but obviously that’s not possible,” said Djokovic. “It’s good that I get tested. I obviously haven’t had any matches since Wimbledon. I’m still trying to find my rhythm and my groove on the court.”
Djokovic has now defeated Norrie in all seven of their meetings and is through to the fourth round in New York for the 16th time in his career.
On Sunday he will play German veteran Jan-Lennard Struff, who has already knocked out two seeds in Holger Rune and Frances Tiafoe.
A lone break of Norrie’s serve in the seventh game was enough for Djokovic to pocket the opening set, but not before he summoned the physio to work on his lower back.
The Serbian star headed off court for a medical timeout and returned to serve out the first set.
“It’s all right, you have some ups and downs. You don’t want to reveal too much to the rivals listening,” said a grinning Djokovic, refusing to elaborate on the nature of his back issue.
He had the chance to make further inroads in the second set but Norrie saved three break points and then pinched the tie-break from his smoldering rival who double-faulted on set point.
Norrie took that momentum into the third set with an early break, drawing an emphatic response from Djokovic as he responded by winning four straight games.
Djokovic soon made the set his and another break to start the fourth set gave him the cushion required to close out a milestone victory.
In women’s action, world number one Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the fourth round after extending her remarkable streak of tie-break victories to defeat Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.
Reigning champion Sabalenka punched her ticket to the last 16 after seeing off Fernandez 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) in one hour 39 minutes on the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Sabalenka’s decisive second set victory was capped by her 18th consecutive tie-break win.
The victory was also sweet revenge for Sabalenka, who suffered an upset defeat to then teenager Fernandez in the semi-finals of the 2021 U.S. Open.
“I wanted this revenge badly,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “It was a tough lesson for me back then. Since then, we never played again. I just wanted to prove to myself that the lesson was learned and that I developed as a player and I could get this win.”
Sabalenka attributes her dominance of tie-breaks this season to a tougher mental approach.
“I definitely think that mentally I’m pretty strong, and I’m still growing, because I’m learning a lot of lessons, and all of those lessons making me tougher, tougher, and tougher,” she said. (JapanToday)
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