Sinner on the march as Swiatek wobbles at US Open

Reigning men's defend Jannik evildoer supercharged into the thirdly labialise of the US Open on Thursday as women's title favourite Iga Swiatek toiled before fighting her way through in three sets.

Sinner swatted Australia's Alexei Popyrin aside 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to run his Grand Slam winning streak on hard courts to 23 matches.

The Italian top seed has made a convincing start in his bid to become the first man to repeat as US Open champion since Roger Federer won five in a row from 2004-2008.

"I'm very happy that I managed these matches as good as I could," said Sinner, who dropped only four games in his opening win before blasting past the 36th-ranked Popyrin.

"I am aiming to improve on the serve but the rest I am quite comfortable with."

Sinner faces Canadian 27th seed Denis Shapovalov in the third round on Saturday.

He has reached the final of all three Grand Slams this season, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon either side of a defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open.

Italian 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti matched his best US Open run as he eased past Belgium's David Goffin.

Russian 15th seed Andrey Rublev beat American wild card Tristan Boyer in four sets. He advances to a last-32 tie with Hong Kong's Coleman Wong.

Wong, a 21-year-old qualifier, extended his New York fairytale with a 7-6 , 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over Australian Adam Walton.

The 173rd-ranked Wong had already made history earlier in the week by becoming the first man from Hong Kong to win a Grand Slam singles match.

Karen Khachanov became the biggest casualty so far in the men's draw as the Russian ninth seed blew a two-set lead and lost 2-6, 6-7 , 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 to Poland's Kamil Majchrzak.

Alexander Zverev plays Britain's Jacob Fearnley as Coco Gauff kicks off the night session on Arthur Ashe against Croatia's Donna Vekic.

Play on the main showcourt Thursday began with Swiatek fending off the Netherlands' Suzan Lamens 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

World number two Swiatek looked to be cruising as she led by a set and a break but stumbled before eventually seeing off the 66th-ranked Lamens.

"It wasn't the easiest match. It got a bit complicated in the second set, but I'm happy that I could reset and start playing better in the third set," said Swiatek.

Swiatek, the 2022 US Open champion, has won 16 of 17 matches following titles at Wimbledon and Cincinnati. She goes on to play Russian 29th seed Anna Kalinskaya for a spot in the last 16.

Twice former US Open champion Naomi Osaka impressed in a 6-3, 6-1 win over American Hailey Baptiste and then took aim at Jelena Ostapenko over her furious on-court confrontation with Taylor Townsend on Wednesday.

Townsend later revealed that Ostapenko had accused her of lacking "class" and having "no education".

Osaka, born to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, criticised Ostapenko's tirade that triggered accusations of racism.

"It's one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority white sport," said Osaka.

"I know Taylor and I know how hard she's worked and I know how smart she is, so she's the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.

"I don't know if she knows the history of it in America. But I know she's never going to say that ever again in her life."

Ekaterina Alexandrova, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Linda Noskova were among other women's seeds to advance on Thursday.

mw/rcw

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