NEW YORK — Jannik Dosa never gave his U.S. Open third-round opponent Christopher O’Connell even a moment to reflect on the monumental upset that eliminated Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday.
“It shows that this sport is unpredictable. Every time you put a little bit of the level – if it’s mental, if it’s tennis-wise or physical – in the end, it has a huge impact on the results,” said Dosa. “Both opponents lost, they played incredible tennis. And that’s what happened.”
Not for No. 1-ranked Dosa, who is suddenly the favorite to win the men’s championship at Flushing Meadows. He won the first five games and 21 of the first 29 points to make it pretty clear how things were going at Arthur Ashe Stadium and completed a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over O’Connell in two hours.
“I think he’s on a roll,” O’Connell said. “I felt like I didn’t know, to be honest. … Every shot, I felt like I had to do something, because he was just on me. He was choking me.”
Taking to the court less than 15 hours after Djokovic lost to Alexei Popyrin, and two days after Alcaraz lost to Botic van de Zandschulp, Dosa was dominant in all aspects of the sport. With 23-time major champion Serena Williams watching from the Ashe Suite, Dosa hit 15 aces. He never faced a break point. He won five of O’Connell’s 12 service games. He finished with more than twice as many winners, 46, as unforced errors, 22.
“The best tennis player I’ve ever played, that’s for sure,” said the 30-year-old O’Connell.
The only past men’s champion at the US Open is still in the bracket. The 2021 winner, Daniil Medvedev, is scheduled to perform at night.
Since losing the first set he played in New York, against Mackenzie McDonald – which was also the first set that Dosa played since the news of the doping case involving two positive tests in March to trace the amount of banned anabolic steroids – the 23-year-old from Italy has done impeccably, dropped a total of 18 games in nine sets.
Trying to collect his second Grand Slam title of the year after earning the first of his career at the Australian Open in January, Dosa will face No. 14 Tommy Paul of the United States in the fourth round on Saturday. Paul defeated Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (3).
“He is a good mover. He has improved a lot in the last time. It will be a difficult challenge,” said Dosa about facing Paul, a semifinalist of the Australian Open 2023. “He plays good tennis, especially in America.”
Perhaps there is some vigilance on the part of Dosa towards Saturday, because of recent events. It is, after all, only the third time in the Open era (the others were in 1973 and 2000) that two of the top three seeds have lost before the fourth round.
So, Sinner woke up as the man considered most likely to win the US Open, a status that belonged to No. 3 Alcaraz – winner of the French Open and Wimbledon this season – before the tournament began. No. 2 Djokovic — the reigning champion and owner of a record 24 major trophies — moved above the odds when Alcaraz sent him home on Thursday night, only to relinquish it after an early night exit.
The 87th-ranked O’Connell is hoping to produce another upset, although he has never beaten a member of the top 10 or made it past the third round of a Slam.
“I felt like he started going. I felt like I didn’t know, honestly. … Every shot, I felt like I had to do something, because he was just on me. He was choking me.”
Christopher O’Connell faces Jannik Sinner at the US Open
What van de Zandschulp and Popyrin did allowed O’Connell to dream of producing something similar to Sinner.
“I mean, yeah, I have to believe it,” O’Connell said, “but I think he’s really on fire.”
There is something quite difficult to try to follow up one career-best win with another, and van de Zandschulp did not really appear there, eliminating No. 25 Jack Draper 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Draper, a 22-year-old left-hander from England, never got past the fourth round of the main, and also his next opponent, unseeded Tomas Machac, won 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 against David. Goffin.
“After the match (against Alcaraz), it was a bit crazy,” van de Zandschulp said. “You try to think about the next match, but you’re reminded of a lot of the previous day’s matches. So it’s definitely difficult to play today after the last two days.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
