Taylor Fritz arrives at the US Open quarterfinals confronting two linked challenges: he is seeking his first Grand Slam title in his 37th attempt and he has yet to record a win over Novak Djokovic in 10 previous meetings. The American is 0-10 against the Serbian and has reached this stage after a straight-set victory over Tomas Machac.

Those statistics underline the scale of the task ahead. In their prior 10 matches, dating to 2019, Fritz won just three sets, all at the Australian Open. When they met in this round two years ago in New York, Djokovic swept him, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Fritz has been candid about the gap. “I think the first, almost like seven or eight times I played him, I probably just wasn’t a good-enough player to really have that much of a chance,” he said on Sunday night.

A central technical mismatch is Djokovic’s return versus Fritz’s serve. Fritz noted Djokovic’s ability to attack second serves and to combine that with baseline consistency. “I think what makes it tough is he serves well, he serves aggressive on second serves,” Fritz said. “It’s tough to take advantage of his serve for how well he also returns and just is from the baseline.” He added, “He backs it up incredibly well with the serve. So it’s tough to sometimes get on him the way that he’s, I guess, getting on you with the return.”

Djokovic, meanwhile, expects opponents who have not beaten him to change their approach. “That was the case with Norrie, actually, last round,” Djokovic said. “I mean, he was playing more aggressively than he has ever played against me. So that’s something I expect. I expect players that never won against me to come out on the court and try something different and try to make me feel maybe uncomfortable and play more aggressive.”

Fritz recognises the mental difference when facing the elite. “But against the top guys…because you’re playing someone who they’re where they’re at for a reason, they’re not just going to hand it over to you, they’re not just going to give you a random mistake on a big point,” Fritz says. “You have to maybe pull the trigger and go out and take it from them.”

“I need to play more to win and not to lose, if that statement makes sense.” Both players reached the quarterfinals in strong form; Fritz’s straight-set win was followed by Djokovic’s own straight-set victory over Jan-Lennard Struff.

Stefanos Tsitsipas bowed out of the 2025 US Open in a dramatic second-round match, losing 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7 to world No 56 Daniel Altmaier in a contest that lasted four hours and 26 minutes on Thursday. The defeat ended Tsitsipas’ run at Flushing Meadows and followed a heated exchange at the net.

After Altmaier saved a match point in the fifth set and completed his comeback, Tsitsipas confronted his opponent at the handshake over an underarm serve, telling Altmaier: “Next time, don’t wonder why I hit you, ok? No, I’m just saying, if you serve underarm… if you serve underarm,” Altmaier appeared surprised and walked away while Tsitsipas remained visibly frustrated.

Former world No 1 Justine Henin criticised Tsitsipas’ conduct and suggested it reflected a deeper problem. “Altmaier has every right to serve under the arm. I don’t think he would have reacted like that a year or two ago,” she said. “There’s a bit of an ego issue: ‘I don’t get served under the arm.’ That says a lot about everything he’s been going through for a while. It feels a bit like being in kindergarten, almost.”

Altmaier addressed the incident in his press conference and acknowledged the emotions that can follow a long match. “I know that sometimes in the heat of the moment, you can say stuff you don’t normally would like to say.

“You regret afterwards. So I think we all know about these discussions at the net; I’m not a fan of it.

“Even if I would have lost, I would not enter discussions because it’s just, like, the heat of the moment.

“You need to cool down; let’s see if he reacts to it or sticks to his opinion. Which is fine for me. I know what I did and that’s it. It’s part of the game.”

Tsitsipas, a former world No 3 now ranked 28th, holds a 20-17 (54%) record in 2025. The 27-year-old has struggled for consistency and has not won consecutive matches since the Barcelona Open in April. The best result of his season was claiming the Dubai Championships in February/March.

Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka meet on Monday in a highly anticipated US Open fourth-round match, their sixth career meeting and first since Osaka retired injured in their 2024 China Open encounter. The 23rd seed Osaka faces third seed Gauff in a Labor Day prime time slot, selected as the second day session match inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Both players already collected the baseline points awarded for main-draw entry, with 10 WTA Ranking points given to everyone in round one. By advancing to the fourth round this year, Gauff and Osaka each hold 240 WTA Ranking points from the US Open.

For Gauff, that equals her 2024 result, when she reached the fourth round before a three-set loss to Emma Navarro. The American sits on 7,874 points in the WTA Live Rankings and is positioned at world No 2 in the live rankings, ahead of Iga Swiatek.

Osaka returned to the top 30 following a Canadian Open run earlier this month and began the tournament ranked world No 24. She has exceeded the 70 points she earned for reaching the second round in 2024 and now moves to 1,949 points in the WTA Live Rankings, provisionally up two places to world No 22.

A win in New York awards 430 ranking points for a quarter-final place. That result would move Osaka to 2,139 points and provisionally into the top 20 at world No 19. Victory for Gauff would raise her to 8,064 points and preserve her live ranking of No 2.

Prize money at the US Open has reached new records, with the singles champions set to collect $5,000,000. The two players have already earned significant sums by reaching the second week: $110,000 for round one, $154,000 for round two, $237,000 for round three and $400,000 for reaching the fourth round. A quarter-final appearance carries $660,000.

Heading into the tournament, Osaka had earned $1,180,367 for 2025, while Gauff had amassed $5,946,685 in season earnings to date.