Carlos Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud in four sets to win his first major at the US Open and make history in moving to the top of the ATP rankings.
Either Alcaraz or Ruud would have taken the world number one spot had they won at Flushing Meadows, and it was the 19-year-old who prevailed 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 on Sunday.
The teenager – the second-youngest New York champion of the Open Era after Pete Sampras – therefore became the youngest ever men's number one.
Alcaraz had come through five-set matches in each of the prior three rounds, and he was again worked hard by Ruud – the new number two.
Ultimately, though, the highly talented Spaniard had the staying power to win his first grand slam title, becoming the first teenager to do so since Rafael Nadal at the 2005 French Open.
Despite the draining efforts of previous nights, Alcaraz made a rapid start, quickly forging three break points in the third game of the match and taking the second of them.
Ruud did little else wrong in the first set but had to bide his time to respond, losing the opener and fending off an opportunity for a break in the second before immediately applying pressure going the other way.
The Norwegian reached an Alcaraz drop shot and lobbed his opponent before watching the backhand reply land long to lead, although three unforced errors in the next game almost let Alcaraz back in.
Instead, Ruud dug in and then profited when a sloppy Alcaraz service game allowed him to clinch the second set.
Alcaraz responded in sublime fashion, immediately piling on the pressure in the third frame and breaking down Ruud's defence with a pinpoint drop shot, yet the set was level again when he crashed into the net, with a sensational rally required to reach a tie-break.
A couple of wild Ruud strokes decided the 73-minute set in Alcaraz's favour, though, and the fifth seed went long in the fourth to set his opponent on course, with an emotional victory secured in ruthless style.
Data Slam: Marathon man Carlos crowned in New York
Only the third player to reach the US Open final after winning in five sets in each of the prior three rounds, Alcaraz avoided seeing another match going all the way – even if past results suggest that would have worked in his favour.
Regardless, Alcaraz set a new record for the most time spent on court at a major tournament. Since 1999, when this data was first available, Kevin Anderson's 2018 Wimbledon run had previously represented the benchmark.
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Alcaraz – 14/3
Ruud – 4/2
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Alcaraz – 55/41
Ruud – 37/29
BREAK POINTS WON
Alcaraz – 3/11
Ruud – 3/10
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.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side
Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.
Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.
It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.
However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.
Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt
Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.
The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.
They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.
As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse
Seamus Coleman acknowledged Everton "really let ourselves down" and must "look at ourselves in the mirror" following their spectacular late collapse against Bournemouth.
Sean Dyche's side, who were seeking their first points of the season, led 2-0 in the 87th minute at Goodison Park through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
However, the hosts were undone by three crosses in the latter stages, with Antoine Semenyo pulling a goal back and Lewis Cook levelling, before Luis Sinisterra completed a sensational turnaround in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Boos rung around Goodison Park as the Toffees remained pointless and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, and Coleman echoed the supporters' frustrations.
"We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," the skipper said. "We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately, we did that.
"We cannot be conceding the goals that we did. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."
Meanwhile, Dyche bemoaned the lack of responsibility amongst his players, as they became the first side in Premier League history to lose a game after leading by two or more goals in the 87th minute.
"We did so much right until they scored their first goal," the Everton head coach said. "The game should have been out of sight. We conceded one and then threw it away. I can't put my finger on it right now.
"They kept raining it forward and got their reward in the end. They were playing it forward and crossing it into the box, and we didn't deal with it. Simple stuff, but we threw it away. It is the third game we have thrown away this season.
"Everyone was looking at someone else to deal with things and that is when there is trouble. You could see the body language change. You have to see games through, and we have enough experience to do that, but today we didn't."
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: "It was the worst game we played this season. Everton deserved to win today, but the players kept pushing.
"I always have hope because this team has spirit. We have done it before and had some good comebacks. The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again."
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