Day 6 saw the end of round 3 and the end of substitutions. Cam Norrie the 7th seed continued his good grand slam form as he beat the 28th seed, Rune in straight sets to reach the 4th round. Rublev the 9th seed was up against 19th seed Shapovalov and what a match those 2 produced. Rublev took the 1st set before Shapovalov hit back to lead by 2 sets to 1. Rublev then managed to force a decider after he took the 4th set 6-4. The final set went on serve until 4-4 when Rublev after saving break points at 3-4, managed to break the Canadians serve and give himself a chance to serve the match out. Rublev found himself 40-15 up in that game before Shapovalov went into lockdown mode and won the next 4 points to make it 5-5 in the fifth. He then held and now after just serving for the match he was serving to stay in the match. The 9th seed managing to do just that and this match was going to be decided in a super tiebreak. Rublev played the better super tiebreak and always found himself up in it and this proved useful as he went on to take it 10-7. The 3rd seed, Alcaraz was up against unseeded American Brooksby. Alcaraz managing to win in straight sets to become the youngest male player to reach the 4th round of the US Open since Pete Sampras did it in 1989-1990. 22nd seed Frances Tiafoe managed to win his match against 14th seed Schwartzman in straight sets. Schwartzman was serving for the opening set and after failing to do so was 6-3 up in the 1st set tiebreak and somehow it was Tiafoe who took the opening set of the match. This set proved to be important as Tiafoe went on to win the next 2 sets and book his spot in the 4th round where he will face number 2 seed Nadal after Nadal breezed past unseeded Gasquet in straight sets. Unseeded Ivashka continues his run at the US Open as he knocked out 26th seed, Musetti in 4 sets. 15th seed Cilic was up against 20th seed Evans and what a match they had. Cilic managing to eventually take the opening set after a marathon tiebreak which ended 13-11. Evans hit back to make it 1 set all but Cilic was ultimately to strong as he won the next 2 sets and will face Alcaraz in the 4th round. Sinner was playing in the night session as he was up against unseeded American Nakashima. Nakashima managing to take the opening set before Sinner ultimately showed his class in the 4 set victory.

The first ladies match on was an absolute peach of a match between 9th seed Muguruza and 21st seed Kvitova. Muguruza took the opening set before Kvitova hit back and took the 2nd set to force a decider. The decider went all the way to the super-tiebreak where Kvitova came out on top winning 12-10. What A Match! Pegula the 8th seed was up against qualifer Yuan. It looked like an easy match after Pegula took the 1st set 6-2 but the qualifer had other other ideas as Yuan found herself 4-1 up in the 2nd set. Pegula managed to take it into a tiebreak but to the home crowds suprise it was the qualifer who came out on top. Thankfully for Pegula she found her form from the opening set and took the decider 6-0 to book her spot in the 4th round. Azarenka the 26th seed showed her class as she cruised past Martic – dropping just 3 games on her way to the 4th round. 19th seed Collins managed to beat a tricky opponent in Cornet in straight sets. The 2nd set going to 11-9 in the tiebreak. Niemeier, Sabalenka and Swiatek all won their respective matches in straight sets. Pliskova the 22nd seed was up against 13th seed Bencic in what on paper was a great match. Pliskova lost the first set before taking the next 2 and booking her spot in the 4th round. What a day of fantastic tennis.

There were a number of picks lost on day 6. The players lost were: Nakashima (1 Pick), Shapovalov (3 picks), Evans (2 picks), Musetti (2 picks), Rune (1 pick), Muguruza (5 picks), Bencic (9 picks), Cornet (4 picks) and Zheng (1 pick).

Onto the fantasy leader board and the familiar name is still at the top. ‘Drop Shots’ lead by 6 points over ‘Simply Smashing’ who have moved into 2nd place. ‘Eish’ sits just 4 points off 2nd in 3rd while ‘Vax Needed’ and ‘Saved by the Ball’ sit in a joint 4th place just 1 point off 3rd. The wooden spoon battle is really heating up but at the moment it is ‘Magic Team’ who are winning that specific battle.

Matches on day 6

• Rublev(9) beat Shapovalov(19) – 6-4; 2-6; 6-7(3); 6-4; 7-6(10-7)
• Tiafoe(22) beat Schwartzman(14) – 7-6(7); 6-4; 6-4
• Ivashka beat Musetti(26) – 6-4; 3-6; 6-2; 6-3
• Cilic(15) beat Evans(20) – 7-6(11); 6-7(3); 6-2; 7-5
• Sinner(11) beat Nakashima – 3-6; 6-4; 6-1; 6-2
• Nadal(2) beat Gasquet – 6-0; 6-1; 7-5
• Kvitova(21) beat Muguruza(9) – 5-7; 6-3; 7-6(12-10)
• Pegula(8) beat Yuan – 6-2; 6-7(6); 6-0
• Collins(19) beat Cornet – 6-4; 7-6(9)
• Sabalenka(6) beat Burel – 6-0; 6-2
• Pliskova(22) beat Bencic(13) – 5-7; 6-4; 6-3

Matches to watch on day 7:

• Berrettini(13) vs Davidovich Fokina (17:00)
• Ruud(5) vs Moutet (18:00)
• Garcia(17) vs Riske(29) (19:00)
• Zhang vs Gauff(12) (20:00)
• Carreno Busta(12) vs Khachanov(27) (20:15)
• Samsonova vs Tomljanovic (22:15)
• Medvedev(1) vs Kyrgios(23) (01:00)
• Jabeur(5) vs Kudermetova(18) (03:00)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.