NEW YORK • Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered one of his most heartbreaking losses, as his bid for a first Grand Slam title at the US Open ended on Friday after he squandered six match points.
Borna Coric rallied from 5-1 down in the fourth set to stun the Greek 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) and send the fourth seed tumbling out in the third round.
The Croat made a remarkable comeback at an empty Louis Armstrong Stadium to face Australian Jordan Thompson for a spot in his first Major quarter-final.
Tsitsipas twice served for the match in the fourth set and was up a break in the fifth but could not put the gritty 27th seed away.
Tsitsipas made just one double fault in his first 29 service games, but hit two in the final-set tie-break. A forehand error on Coric's second match point ended proceedings at 1.09am local time.
"This is probably the saddest and funniest at the same time thing that has ever happened in my career!" the 22-year-old, who won the ATP Finals last season, wrote on Twitter after skipping the press conference due to the late finish.
Coric admitted that he was fortunate to get through in 4hr 36min.
"At 5-4, I think he was 40-0... it was just pure luck," said the Croat, one of four players to test positive for Covid-19 after playing on the ill-fated Adria Tour earlier this year.
"I just made some unbelievable returns... In the third and fourth sets he was playing unbelievable tennis and I felt I had absolutely no chance."
Earlier, fifth seed Alexander Zverev defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in a mystery-laden third-round match that was delayed by three hours.
France's Mannarino was one of several players under enhanced safety protocols earlier in the week after compatriot Benoit Paire tested positive for Covid-19. New York state apparently staged a last-minute intervention to try to prevent him from playing in the match scheduled for 2.30pm.
"That was big news for me. I mean, I was ready to go on court," Mannarino said of tournament organisers telling him the state's health department had contacted them to say he should be quarantining in his hotel room.
The United States Tennis Association then engaged in "collaborative dialogue" with health officials, and he found out at 4.40pm that he was permitted to play after all.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
US OPEN
Day 7: Singtel TV Ch114/115 & StarHub Ch208/209, 10.50pm
DAY 5 SELECTED RESULTS
MEN'S SINGLES RD 3:
Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (Ger) 6-3 6-3 6-1, Denis Shapovalov (Can) bt Taylor Fritz (USA) 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, David Goffin (Bel) bt Filip Krajinovic (Srb) 6-1 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
WOMEN'S SINGLES RD 3:
Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Jessica Pegula (USA) 6-4 6-3, Angelique Kerber (Ger) bt Ann Li (USA) 6-3 6-4, Naomi Osaka (Jpn) bt Marta Kostyuk (Ukr) 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-2, Anett Kontaveit (Est) bt Magda Linette (Pol) 6-3 6-2.
