In his quest for ultimate history at the US Open, the 38-year-old Novak Djokovic became the oldest man in history to reach all four major singles quarterfinals in one season, after ending the run of qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff with 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
His latest victory makes him the fourth oldest man—after Pancho Gonzalez, Ken Rosewall and Jimmy Connors—to advance to a US Open quarterfinal. Prior to Djokovic, Connors was the most recent man to achieve the feat, which he did during his famous run to the semifinals, at age 39, in 1991.
This is Djokovic’s 14th career singles quarterfinal at the US Open, meaning he separates himself from Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, both of whom notched 13.
He’s now second on the men’s Open Era list behind only Connors, who reached 17 US Open quarterfinals.
The Serb, who is aiming all-time record 25th Grand Slam singles title, will nexy play No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz, who beat Tomas Machac in straight sets.
Earlier, the 22-year-old Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest man to reach 13 Grand Slam quarterfinals in the Open Era with a 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-4 victory over France’s Arthur Rinderknech.
Rinderknech was appearing in the Round of 16 at a major for the first time and was bidding to become the first Frenchman to reach the quarters in Flushing Meadows since Gael Monfils in 2019
Alcaraz boasts a 21-2 record at the Grand Slams this season, reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals, saving three championship points to win Roland Garros, and reaching the Wimbledon final.
Next up for Alcaraz is 20th seed Jiri Lehecka of Czechia, a 7-6(4), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, winner over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. It will be a rematch of this summer’s Queen’s Club final, won by Alcaraz, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2.
Sabalenka roars into quarterfinals
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka dominated Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-4 to reach the US Open quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive year.
The win marks the fifth consecutive year that Sabalenka has made it to at least the quarterfinal round in Flushing Meadows, with her previous four trips resulting in semifinal appearances or better.
The 73-minute win also assures that Sabalenka will officially stay No. 1 in the world rankings after the tournament, regardless of any other results.
Sabalenka has now reached the quarterfinals in each of the last 12 majors that she has contested, solidifying her position as a top contender.
A matchup of Grand Slam champions awaits Sabalenka in the quarterfinals as she’ll take on a former Wimbledon winner champion Marketa Vondrousova, who prevailed in a battle of former Wimbledon champions, defeating No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in 1 hour and 51 minutes to advance to the US Open quarterfinals for the second time in her career.
Against Vondrousova, Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 5-3, including a second-round win, also taking place in Cincinnati a few weeks ago.
A win against either opponent would send Sabalenka to a fifth straight US Open semifinal.
Earlier, Jessica Pegula advanced to the quarterfinals with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win over Ann Li in an all-American matchup.
Pegula needed only 54 minutes to move past the 25-year-old Li, who was playing in her first fourth-round match at a major championship and fell to 1-9 against Top 10 competition.
Pegula’s dominant win over Ann Li in the fourth round was her 19th match win at Flushing Meadows, now her highest tally at any of the four majors.
“I played (Li) at Roland Garros early this year, and we had a really tough two sets. And I know when she’s serving really well, and she has a lot of confidence, she’s really dangerous,” Pegula said.
“I felt like maybe she came out a little slow or nervous or whatever it was, and I just felt like I wanted to jump on top of that and not let her feel comfortable on this court for a second. And I felt like that was really my entire motivation the entire match,” she said.
Pegula improves to 8-2 in Grand Slam fourth-round matches, including 3-1 at that stage at her home major championship.