The next title favorite was eliminated early at the US Open: One day after Carlos Alcaraz, last year’s winner Novak Djokovic was also eliminated. The last time this happened to the Serb was a long time ago.
After Carlos Alcaraz, defending champion Novak Djokovic also failed early at the US Open. The 37-year-old Serb lost to Australian Alexei Popyrin in the third round with 4:6, 4:6, 6:2, 4:6 and was thus eliminated earlier than at any Grand Slam tournament in New York since 2006. In his second US Open participation 18 years ago, Djokovic did not get past the third round. Since then, he has won the tournament four times.
Barely a month after his gold triumph at the Olympics in Paris, Djokovic has now missed out on his 25th title at a Grand Slam tournament. Before that, world number three Alcaraz from Spain had already suffered a surprise defeat in the second round to the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
Popyrin in a Grand Slam round of 16 for the first time
Popyrin, seeded 28th, once again demonstrated his strong hard court form and showed some inspiring tennis at times. He celebrated spectacular point wins with great enthusiasm and repeatedly fired up the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium. In preparation, Popyrin won the Masters 1000 tournament in Montreal and now made it to the round of 16 in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career.
In the third round last year against fellow countryman Laslo Djere, Djokovic had already lost the first two sets 4:6. Back then, the most successful tennis professional in history fought back successfully and won the tournament.
But with the score at 2:2 in the fourth set, Popyrin managed to break the match with a powerful forehand in a hard-fought match. The 25-year-old pulled ahead to 5:2, faltered briefly once again, but deservedly celebrated the biggest success of his career so far.
Source: Stern
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