By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Second seed Carlos Alcaraz dished out another devastating defeat, while 2021 champion Emma Raducanu’s run ended in bitter disappointment in the U.S. Open third round on Friday.
Alcaraz, the 2022 Flushing Meadows champion who has claimed an ATP-best six titles this season, shook off a right knee problem to brush aside Italy’s Luciano Darderi 6-2 6-4 6-0.
The Spaniard took a medical timeout to address the issue in the second set but eased fans’ worries as he sprinted through the final set with just two unforced errors to set up a meeting with France’s Arthur Rinderknech.
Raducanu has shown signs of improvement this year, reaching the U.S. Open third round for the first time since her 2021 triumph, but it was not enough to get past ninth seed Elena Rybakina, who cruised to a 6-1 6-2 win on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
“It’s going to be important to just look at the last few months as a whole, last few weeks as a whole and the improvements that I’m making, because a match like that can easily kind of get you down if you let it,” said Raducanu, who had failed to win a match in her last two visits to the hardcourt major.
“So I’m going to try and not do that and regroup.”
Rybakina, who triumphed at Wimbledon three years ago, reached the U.S. Open fourth round for the first time and will next play either Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini or Czech Marketa Vondrousova.
Novak Djokovic will be hoping to get another step closer to an elusive 25th Grand Slam title when he looks to extend his 6-0 win-loss record over 35th-ranked Cameron Norrie in the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The former world number one readily admits that he has lost some of his fire after claiming his last major at the 2023 U.S. Open, with the 38-year-old failing to reach the final at any of the slams for over a year.
Teenaged fifth seed Mirra Andreeva, who claimed a pair of 1000-level titles earlier this year, plays American Taylor Townsend in the final match of the night on Ashe.
Others in action include world number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, who plays Canadian 31st seed Leylah Fernandez.
Fernandez defeated Sabalenka during her remarkable run to the 2021 final and will hope that lightning strikes again on Friday.
American fourth seed Taylor Fritz will face Swiss qualifier Jerome Kym.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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