Coco Gauff ended Caroline Wozniacki’s fairytale US Open comeback to line up a potential quarter-final blockbuster with Iga Swiatek, while Novak Djokovic hoped for less night-time New York drama Sunday.
Home favourite and sixth seed Gauff was taken to three sets for the third time in four rounds this week before edging out former world number one Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
The 19-year-old could meet defending champion Swiatek in the last eight after Gauff picked up her 15th win in 16 matches, a run including titles in Washington and Cincinnati last month.
Gauff sparked into life after dropping the opening two games to pocket the opening set, but Wozniacki — playing her first Grand Slam in over three years — wound back the clock to level the match.
Two-time US Open runner-up Wozniacki broke to start the deciding set, triggering a fierce response from Gauff who swept the final six games to close out a gritty victory.
“Caroline is back, it’s like she’s never left,” Gauff said of the 33-year-old Wozniacki, appearing in just her third tournament since returning to the sport last month.
“The level she played today was amazing, and she’s been an inspiration for me growing up.”
Wozniacki, who made her tour debut when Gauff was only one, retired after the 2020 Australian Open to start a family, giving birth to two children.
She was trying to emulate Kim Clijsters, who beat the Dane in the 2009 US Open final on her own return to Grand Slam tennis from maternity leave.
Later on Sunday, Swiatek takes on the dangerous Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the evening session in a clash of French Open champions past and present.
World number one Swiatek is 0-3 against the unpredictable Ostapenko but this is their first meeting at a Grand Slam.
“With Jelena, it’s a little bit like one day she can play a perfect match and just put everything in even though she’s really risking, and the other day can be different,” said Swiatek.
“You never know what to expect.”
– Battle-tested Djokovic feeling ‘strong’ –
Djokovic steps up his bid for a record-extending 24th men’s Grand Slam crown in Sunday’s night session against 105th-ranked Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo in the last 16.
Three-time US Open champion Djokovic recovered from two sets down to outlast fellow Serbian Laslo Djere in the third round, avoiding his earliest exit at Flushing Meadows since 2006.
Even at 36, Djokovic served another reminder of his astonishing staying power with the 38th five-set win of his career — the eighth time he’s overturned a 0-2 deficit to win at a major.
“I think the message is sent to the rest of the field that obviously I’m still able to play five sets deep at night,” said Djokovic after wrapping up his win over Djere at around 1.30am Saturday.
“Coming from two sets down always sends a strong message to the future opponents.
“At the same time I’m not really wanting to be in this position, to be honest. I prefer a straight-set win. Hopefully I can get back on that track in the next match.”
In other matches Sunday, Frances Tiafoe advanced to an all-American quarter-final after defeating Australia’s Rinky Hijikata in straight sets.
Tiafoe, seeded 10th, produced a disciplined performance to dominate Hijikata on the way to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 victory on the Louis Armstrong Stadium court.
Tiafoe, who reached the semi-finals of the US Open last year where he lost in five sets to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz, faces unseeded compatriot Ben Shelton in the last eight on Tuesday.
Shelton, 20, took down 14th-seeded compatriot Tommy Paul in four sets to reach his second Grand Slam quarter-final of the year.
He avenged his loss to Paul in the last eight of the Australian Open, winning 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to become the youngest American to reach the men’s quarter-finals in New York since Andy Roddick in 2002.
