Zverev makes a point against Sinner, sets up Alcaraz battle

Alexander Zverev was in a bit of a shock moments after he beat Jannik Sinner in the US Open fourth round. At the start of his on-court interview, he was told by Brad Gilbert that he had just played his longest-ever match in the tournament. "Really?" asked the German with a look of disbelief.

- Aditya Chaturvedi

In that moment, Zverev was perhaps remembering the US Open 2020 final he lost to Dominic Thiem. He was a game away from winning his first Grand Slam title then but the Austrian managed to complete a remarkable victory from two sets down in just over four hours.

On Tuesday, though, Zverev emerged on the right side of another marathon contest at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. In four hours and 41 minutes, at 1.39 am in New York, he closed out a backbreaking 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over sixth-seed Sinner.

It wasn't the result most people had expected. After all, when the draw was announced before the start of the tournament, Sinner potentially meeting Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals, the stage where they contested a five-set epic last year at Flushing Meadows, had set tongues wagging. But Zverev, a former world No.2, was a man on a mission.