New York: World number one and defending champion Rafael Nadal came back from a set and break down to defeat Karen Khachanov 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/3) and reach the US Open fourth round on Friday.
Victory for the 32-year-old Nadal put him into the last 16 in New York for the 10th time and on course to add to his 2010, 2013 and 2017 titles.
However, 2009 champion and third seed Juan Martin del Potro, his potential semi-final opponent, also made the last 16 with a 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 win over Fernando Verdasco.
Top seeded Nadal triumphed over Khachanov after an epic 4 hour 23 minute struggle on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
But the 22-year-old Russian had his chances.
He served for a two sets to love lead in the 10th game of the second set and had set point in the fourth-set tiebreaker.
Nadal, seeking an 18th major, will face Georgia’s world number 37 Nikoloz Basilashvili for a place in the quarter-finals.
The Georgian won just one game in a three-set loss to Nadal in their only previous meeting at Roland Garros last year.
Basilashvili reached the last-16 of a Slam for the first time by seeing off Argentina’s Guido Pella 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4).
“Karen played well. He’s improving always. He’s young. He has everything. I really see him winning a lot of matches in his career,” said Nadal.
“For me personally, it was a physical, demanding match.”
Khachanov, 22, and bidding to make the last 16 of a Slam for the third time this year, took the opener before Nadal needed strapping applied to support his right knee in the changeover.
“I am going to be at 100% for the next match,” he assured reporters.
The top seed was quickly down 3-1 in the second set before battling back to 4-4.
Khachanov cracked when serving for a two sets lead in the 10th game.
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who was runner-up to Nadal last year, outlasted Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 as the roof on the new Louis Armstrong Stadium was closed for the first time.
“Felt like being in a coliseum. Constant noise going on the whole time,” said Anderson after his second five-setter in three rounds.
The fifth seed, runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, next faces ninth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem, who made the last 16 for the fourth time in five years with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 victory over American Taylor Fritz.
Thiem has now put together three wins in a row for the first time since finishing runner-up to Nadal at Roland Garros.
John Isner, the last American man standing, fired 34 aces, 85 winners and saved the three break points he faced in beating Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (10/8), 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 7-5.
He will face Milos Raonic who put out 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-
Serena Williams said her win over sister Venus was more meaningful than those she scored when they were up-and-coming teenagers because the pair realise they only have a limited number of years left in the game.
Serena, who will be 37 next month, showed her 38-year-old sister no mercy in their third-round meeting, thrashing her 6-1 6-2 to continue her quest at Flushing Meadows to tie the record for most Grand Slam titles.
“I feel like we want it so bad now,” a reflective Williams told reporters.
“I mean, we wanted it really bad when you were younger but we had a lot more years in our future,” she said.
“Now, I mean, we definitely want to continue to play, but it’s not like we’re 18 and 19 any more. So it’s a little bit different.” The sisters first met as professionals at the 1998 Australian Open when Serena was 16 and Venus 17 and have played a total of 30 times, with the younger sibling coming out on top in 18 of those matches.
