New York: World No.1 and defending champion Rafael Nadal came back from a set and break down to defeat big-hitting Karen Khachanov 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(9/7), 7-6 (7/3) in a third round epic that lasted 263 minutes at the Flushing Meadows courts here, Friday.
The top seeded Spaniard triumphed in a match where the 22-year-old Khachanov had served for a two sets to love lead in the 10th game of the second set and had a set point in the fourth set tie-breaker, Friday.
Nadal will next face Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili for a place in the quarterfinals. Basilashvili saw 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. I escaped a very tough situation,” said Nadal. “For me personally, it was a physically and mentally demanding match.”
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.
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.
John Isner, the last American man standing, fired 34 aces, 85 winners and saved the three breakpoints 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, 6-3.
