Sloane Stephens sent Coco Gauff spinning out of the US Open – then joined the clamour to stop toilet break "gamesmanship" in tennis.
In Wednesday's opening night match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, former champion Stephens took the fast route past world number 23 Gauff, speeding to a 6-4 6-2 victory.
Now ranked 66th, Stephens won at Flushing Meadows in 2017 and was tipped by Gauff to challenge for the title again this year. By beating Madison Keys and now Gauff, Stephens is showing she still has major game, and another former champion in Angelique Kerber could be her third-round opponent.
Gauff, now 17, has known Stephens for over seven years, having attended the now 28-year-old's 21st birthday party.
But the American pair put friendship to one side for their showdown, with Gauff, who had been fancied by many to go deep this fortnight, having her threat stifled by an in-form Stephens.
"I think the last time we hit, she was probably like 12. It was a little bit different," Stephens said afterwards.
"It's just been really nice to see her game kind of evolve and the things that she's doing, like how she's able to turn so much defense into offense and kind of do those movements. She is great at the net. She has a really great all-around game. It's been really nice to see.
"She's different from a lot of the up-and-coming players we're seeing now that are just super hard hitting, not much variety. She has a lot of variety. I think a lot of the younger girls, there's half that are very hard hitting and half that have a lot of variety. I think she's in the bucket with a lot of variety."
Gauff was asked whether Stephens could now be considered a title contender and replied: "Yeah, definitely. Today she was playing well. I knew these last couple of tournaments she's been playing better and better. I hope that she can make it all the way to the end.
"Obviously if you are going to lose, you want to lose to the champion. I think that I feel like I've learned that I'm capable of making it far in slams. I think if I tighten up a few things, that I'm capable of winning one."
The debate over toilet breaks in tennis was sparked by Andy Murray being furious with Stefanos Tsitsipas for spending eight minutes in the bathroom before tackling the Scot in the deciding set of their first-round match.
Murray, frustrated to be left waiting for his opponent to reappear, followed up his Monday night fury with a tweet that charged Tsitsipas with taking twice as long to visit the toilet as Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos took to travel into space.
There was no such spat in Stephens' quickfire win over Gauff, but the rules on spending a penny have been the currency of many a news conference this week.
"I honestly just thought Andy's tweet was really funny," said Stephens. "I didn't see exactly what happened. I'm not sure. I just thought it was hilarious. We all are like huge Andy fans. We love him.
"I can't speak for what happened in that match, but I do know on the girl's side, there still is a lot of that. It's gamesmanship.
"I think there definitely needs to be a rule or changes. They make a lot of rule changes for smaller things, like they took one minute off the warm-up. If someone goes to the bathroom for nine minutes, no one says anything.
"Six, eight minutes is a long time to leave a match. That changes the whole momentum of a match. If you're changing your clothes, what are you changing? What are you doing in there?
"When you get into six, seven, eight, nine minutes, okay, what are you doing in there? Do you need help? I can come help you. Like, what's happening? I think that's more where the issues are because it just becomes pure gamesmanship."
Sinner avoids O'Connell upset at US Open
Jannik Sinner beat Australia's Christopher O'Connell in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the US Open on Saturday, avoiding a similar fate to Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
The men's draw at Flushing Meadows has been blown wide open by early exits for Alcaraz and Djokovic, but the top seed remains in the hunt after a composed performance.
He reached the fourth round for a fourth consecutive year with a routine 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory, setting the tone with several huge groundstrokes in the opening set.
O'Connell never looked likely to fight back as Sinner smashed 46 winners in a ruthless performance, wrapping up his win in one hour and 56 minutes.
The Australian Open champion will face either Tommy Paul or Gabriel Diallo for a place in the last eight, and he was relieved to survive an opening week full of surprises.
"Everything can happen in this sport, so I try to stay on my side of the net and I'm trying to take the tournament day by day," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the win.
"Each opponent is a very tough challenge and [I am] also enjoying every moment on the court. There have been already a couple of upsets, so let's see what's coming.
"But I'm very happy to still be here and hopefully I can play as many matches as possible. But as I said, we go day by day and then we'll see how it goes."
Data Debrief: Sinner heating up
Sinner lost his first set of the tournament to Mackenzie McDonald but has been largely untouchable since then.
He has only lost 18 games across his last nine sets of tennis, an average of two per set.
The Italian's winning streak now stands at seven straight matches, meanwhile, following his triumphant Cincinnati Open run.
US Open: Sabalenka overcomes first set scare to progress in late start
Aryna Sabalenka came from a set down to keep her US Open dream alive as she beat Ekaterina Alexandrova in the early hours at Flushing Meadows.
Sabalenka emerged on court at the Arthur Ashe Stadium at seven minutes past midnight following Novak Djokovic's shock exit from the tournament, and consecutive upsets looked to be on the cards.
However, the Belarusian responded from a disappointing opening set as she looks to avenge her defeat in the showpiece match against Coco Gauff a year ago.
The world number two set up a meeting with Belgium's Elise Mertens as she emerged a 2-6 6-1 6-2 victor in one hour and 40 minutes in New York.
"I don't know what I did, I was just trying to stay low, put as many balls as I can back on that side," Sabalenka said.
"She played incredible tennis in the first set. It was really tough to change it."
"I'm really happy I was able to turn around this match and get this really difficult win. Thanks so much for staying that late."
Data Debrief: Sabalenka survives late, late show
Sabalenka's encounter with Alexandrova was the latest starting match at the US Open, beating Gabriela Sabatini and Beverley Bowes' meeting in 1987 that started at midnight.
The Belarusian, however, will be hoping for a much improved performance in the next round, having produced 27 unforced errors throughout the contest and serving four double faults.
US Open: Djokovic played 'worst tennis ever' in Popyrin loss
Defending US Open champion Novak Djokovic suffered a shock exit at Flushing Meadows as he lost in four sets to Alexei Popyrin.
Djokovic arrived at the tournament with confidence following his gold medal triumph at the Paris Olympics, and was tipped to lift a record-extending 25th grand slam title.
However, the Serbian's hopes of a fifth success in New York were dashed as he followed fellow favourite Carlos Alcaraz out of the competition in the third round.
Popyrin emerged victorious in three hours and 18 minutes, prevailing 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4 to confirm Djokovic's earliest exit from the tournament in 18 years.
"I have played some of the worst tennis I have ever played," Djokovic said.
"Honestly, the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament, third round is a success."
"I tried my best, I didn't have any physical issues. I just felt out of gas, and you could see that. From the first match, I just didn't find myself on this court.
"Life moves on. I'll try to recalibrate and look forward to what's next."
Data Debrief: Another one bites the dust
Djokovic was far from his clinical best, serving a career-high 14 double faults in a grand slam match and committing 49 unforced errors.
The Serbian will also end the year without winning a grand slam title, the first time he has done so since 2017.
But the day belonged to Popyrin, saving 12 of the 16 break points he faced against the world number two, finding particular success with his forehand as 31 of his 49 winners came from that shot.
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