The men’s bracket of the U.S. Open may be wide open, but the sleeper pick to win it all isn’t much of a sleeper.
Daniil Medvedev barely broke a sweat through his first two sets against Nuno Borges on Monday inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, breezing to a 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 victory to advance to the quarterfinal for the fifth time in the last six years.
Either top-seeded Jannik Sinner or No. 14 seed Tommy Paul awaits Medvedev on Wednesday.
So much has been made of the remaining American men’s chances to end a 21-year Grand Slam drought and capture the first U.S. Open title since Andy Roddick.
And it’s true, the path has never been clearer for the likes of Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz amid early exits from reigning champion Novak Djokivic and 2022 winner Carlos Alcaraz.
All 6-foot-6 of Medvedev, however, could easily get in the way.
“To be honest, feels like always at the U.S. Open,” he said. “Happy to play here, bringing my best level, playing good, serving better and better every match. Returning better and better. Feels great. I know that the further you go the harder opponents can get, the more the crowd is going to be involved and the more fun it’s going to be.”
Not only is Medvedev the only former U.S. Open champion left in the men’s bracket, but he was also runner-up to Djokovic last year.
The 28-year-old hasn’t dropped a set since the first round and looked to be in top form in his sub-two-hour match against Borges on Monday.
Medvedev won 26 of a possible 37 points to gobble down a first-set bagel in just 23 minutes, sealing it with a 109-mph ace — one of nine on the match.
Borges, who lost to Medvedev in June in the first round of the Halle Open, tried to show his opponent something different after that.
Though he failed to execute most of the time, committing 20 unforced errors in the second set and 22 in the third on the way to an egregious 51 on the match.
The third set did see Borges put up his biggest fight.
In one of the longest games of the match, Borges survived three break points before play was briefly suspended due to a fire alarm that went off and caused the electronic line system to go down.
“It did help me,” Medvedev said. “Because the next two points, I felt like he started to get the momentum and this broke it a little bit. That’s things that we don’t control, so hopefully it never happens again.”
Borges was still ultimately able to hold and knot the third set at two-all.
Despite trading off the first six games with Medvedev, Borges couldn’t maintain the push despite some much-needed encouragement from the fans in attendance.
Medvedev memorably collapsed to the court when he won the U.S. Open in 2021, laying still and sticking his tongue out in homage to the FIFA “brick fall” celebration.
Asked if he has anything up his sleeve if he continues to win during his post-match interview on the court with Nick Kyrgios, Medvedev admitted he’s thought about it.
“I feel like I know what I want to do if I win my next Grand Slam, when I win it hopefully,” Medvedev said. “A couple of times I was close and didn’t manage to do the celebration. Better to win matches and then the celebration. Press conferences come as they come. I just hope I can win more matches. That’s where you have more opportunities to speak or to do some crazy stuff.”
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