Matteo Berrettini eliminated former champion, Andy Murray, from the US Open in the third round of the tournament.
The Italian had to overcome a late wobble to win 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-3 and reach the fourth round, with his powerful strokes bailing him out on several occasions.
Murray appeared out of his depth in the first set as Berrettini sent smashed nine aces and 19 winners and easily saved the Briton’s sole break point opportunity. Things only got worse for Murray as he double-faulted to hand the 13th seed Berrettini the break tossing his racket towards his bench in frustration.
But out of nowhere, Murray caught a second wind when Berrettini failed to convert any of his eight breakpoint chances and then errored in the tiebreak to make the contest more interesting.
But the mistakes proved to be an anomaly rather than the norm as Berrettini broke Murray in the break in the eighth game after forcing the twice Wimbledon winner into a backhand error before sealing the win to progress to the fourth round of the US Open.
Berrettini, who missed Wimbledon after testing positive for COVID-19, had a forgettable build-up to Flushing Meadows after losing his opening matches in Montreal and Cincinnati.
The world number 14 will now face Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina, who beat him in Monte Carlo last year, in the next round.
Meanwhile, Corentin Moutet made history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach the fourth round of the US Open after he beat Pedro Cachín 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Nick Kyrgios, Pablo Carreño Busta and Casper Ruud all reached the next round as well.
