Alexander Zverev arrived at the US Open as one of the sport’s most accomplished players still chasing a first major. The 28-year-old Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, a two-time ATP Finals winner, a seven-time Masters 1000 champion and holder of 24 ATP Tour titles, began the tournament ranked third in the world and one place shy of his career-high at No 2.

Yet on Saturday in New York his bid stalled in the third round. Felix Auger-Aliassime, ranked 24 places below Zverev, produced one of the best wins of his career, defeating the German 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-4. The 25-year-old Canadian had shown flashes at Slams before — a 2021 US Open semi-final is the high mark — but consistency has often been an issue. Prior to this event he had not reached a Grand Slam quarter-final since the 2022 Australian Open and had reached the second week of a major only three times in the intervening years. He also carried a 1-3 record at Flushing Meadows across the three years after 2021.

“I had a tough start, but then after, like a bit nervous to be honest, even though I’ve faced these players at these situations,” said Auger-Aliassime, post-match. “I was just a bit nervous and then once that got away, I felt good, and it’s nice because it just, it’s been a work in progress and I feel like, you know, tonight everything came together very nicely and all the things I’ve been working on have paid off tonight.”

For Zverev the loss is a setback that prolongs a stubborn Grand Slam drought. He had won six of eight previous meetings with Auger-Aliassime but looked short on confidence and tactical clarity as the match slipped away. This is his earliest US Open exit since 2018; he missed the 2022 tournament through injury. Recent Grand Slam form has been uneven: finalist at the 2024 US Open and the 2025 Australian Open, a Roland Garros quarter-final exit in 2025, followed by a first-round Wimbledon defeat and now this early New York exit.

Auger-Aliassime, the 25th seed, now moves on with a likely fourth-round clash against 15th seed Andrey Rublev. For Zverev, the search for a first major will continue into the next season.

A late finish on the men’s side forced the final scheduled match Saturday to start deep into the night, with Maria Sakkari and Beatriz Haddad Maia taking the court on Louis Armstrong Stadium at 11:28 p.m. The delay followed a near four-hour match in which Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated third-seeded Alexander Zverev in four sets.

The U.S. Open implemented a policy last year permitting the tournament referee to move any match that has not started by 11:15 p.m. to another court. A U.S. Tennis Association spokesperson said after the fourth set of Auger-Aliassime versus Zverev that Sakkari and Haddad Maia would either play on Armstrong as scheduled or be moved to another court. The spokesperson added that had Auger-Aliassime and Zverev gone into a fifth set, the Sakkari-Haddad Maia match would have been moved elsewhere.

The 11:28 p.m. start ranks as the seventh-latest opening at Flushing Meadows and occurred a year to the day after the record night-session start when Aryna Sabalenka and Ekaterina Alexandrova began at 12:07 a.m., technically on Aug. 31. The late start was not the latest for Haddad Maia; she once began a match against Bianca Andreescu at 11:38 p.m. in 2022.

Late-night scheduling at the majors remains a point of debate across the sport, with similar discussions at the French Open and Australian Open and an 11 p.m. curfew at Wimbledon. When Sakkari and Haddad Maia started on Armstrong, the final men’s match of the day, Tommy Paul versus Alexander Bublik, was only in the second set on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Earlier in the evening session on Ashe, Iga Swiatek rallied from down 5-1 in the first set to beat Anna Kalinskaya and open the night action.

Jannik Sinner has shown resilience this season but recent results suggest opponents are probing for openings. After Alexander Bublik beat Sinner on grass in Halle, a tricky Wimbledon run included a match with Grigor Dimitrov that threatened to end in defeat until Dimitrov retired with an injury. Sinner then produced a dominant Wimbledon final performance against Carlos Alcaraz, yet questions resurfaced following a patchy display at the US Open against Denis Shapovalov.

The defending champion has not lost a hard-court Grand Slam match for two years, but in New York he found himself in serious trouble. Sinner trailed 3-0 in the third set after the pair split the opening two, and faced pressure from a player who had won their only previous meeting at the Australian Open four years earlier. The match finished 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in Sinner’s favour, but it was far from routine.

“It was a very, very tough match today,” said Sinner. “I know Denis for quite a long time. I knew I had to play at a very, very high level. I’m very happy that I managed to win. He started off very well. I just tried to stay there mentally.”

“He started off very well, so I just tried to stay there mentally trying to see what’s coming. The last time we played was some years ago and I feel like we’ve both improved so much.

“I knew that I had to play at a very, very high level today so I’m very happy that I managed to win.”

In his press conference, he insisted he was not surprised by his struggled against Shapovalova as he added: “I’m not a machine.

“I also struggle sometimes. Today I felt like from my side I didn’t struggle. I was playing great tennis, and he also.”

Sinner committed 38 unforced errors in the match, a level of inconsistency that encouraged analysis and belief among opponents. “I thought Shapo’s game plan was really good going out there. We’re getting a little bit of a book on guys giving Sinner some trouble,” said Ryan Harrison. Martina Navratilova warned similarly: “Shapovalov played tennis like he used to and now he’s healthy and Jannik wasn’t hitting the ball as well or looking like himself until the end of the match,” said the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion.

Sinner escaped a potential crisis in New York, but the match underlined that rivals are experimenting with strategies aimed at unsettling the reigning champion.