Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz sets up Dan Evans clash at US Open

By Sports Desk August 31, 2023

Andy Murray bowed out of the US Open, but it was still a successful day for British tennis.

Jack Draper, Katie Boulter, Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans all kept the flag flying into the third round, although Jodie Burrage came up short against second seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz beat Lloyd Harris in straight sets and he will face Evans next.

Here, the PA news agency looks back at day four at Flushing Meadows.

Pic of the dayShot of the day

No contest.

Brit watch

Murray was desperately disappointed with how he played as he went down in straight sets to a familiar rival, Grigor Dimitrov. It was a 12th meeting of the pair and the Bulgarian 19th seed picked up his fourth win.

Norrie was a straight-sets winner against Hsu Yu-hsiou of Chinese Taipei and Evans came from a set down to beat Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in four.

Propably most impressive was Draper, who dispatched 17th seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-2 6-4 7-5.

Lucky escape

Boulter was relieved to avoid being defaulted after inadvertently hitting a ball towards spectators during her win over Wang Yafan.

The British number one had just lost a 20-shot rally in the first set when a ball kid threw her the ball and she swatted it away, accidentally sending it spinning into a gangway in front of the crowd.

Had the ball hit a spectator Boulter would have been disqualified, but the chair umpire merely issued a code violation for ball abuse.

Boulter went on to complete a 5-7 6-1 6-4 victory and will play American Peyton Stearns in round three.

Stat of the dayNo boos

The USTA put an announcement on the big screen explaining there would be no handshake between Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova due to ‘global events’. It had the desired effect as there was no booing of either player, unlike at Wimbledon when Victoria Azarenka got it in the neck.

Fallen seeds:

Hubert Hurkacz (17)

Who’s up next?

Novak Djokovic continues his bid for a record-equalling 24th grand slam title against fellow Serbian Laslo Djere.

Defending champion Iga Swiatek faces her good friend, Slovakian qualifier Kaja Juvan.

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