The Latest: Zverev advances at Open when Sock retires in 4th

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):

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Alexander Zverev advanced to the fourth round of the U.S. Open when Jack Sock was forced to retire in the fourth set because of an injury.

Zverev led 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and held a 2-1 lead when Sock had to call it quits.

Sock has been bothered by a groin injury and he was forced on his back for more than 5 minutes in the second set while a trainer worked on him.

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11:30 p.m.

Reilly Opelka, the 24-year-old American who is seeded 22nd at the U.S. Open, is already guaranteed his biggest payday at Flushing Meadows by reaching the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

That prize money check of at least $265,000 for getting that far will be $10,000 shy thanks to a fine assessed by the U.S. Tennis Association because a sponsor’s logo on a pink bag he’s toted to matches was deemed too large.

“I mean, what a joke on the U.S. Open to do that. 10K for a pink bag? Come on,” Opelka said after beating Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday. “The head referee was telling me, ‘You should have come in and had this thing measured.’ … I thought it was a bit harsh, a bit excessive. My job is not to measure logos. It is just not. My job is to win matches. I have bigger things to worry about.”

Added Opelka: “I don’t want to point fingers out on other players; not trying to throw anyone under the bus. But there has been people that have gotten away with a lot worse with a lot less of a fine.”

The USTA declined comment.

Players’ fines during the U.S. Open are donated to the Grand Slam Development Fund, which seeks to “encourage and increase competitive opportunities in developing tennis regions.”

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9:50 p.m.

The return of spectators to the U.S. Open is getting a lot of credit from a lot of players for changing matches’ outcomes — and American Shelby Rogers thinks that played a role in her upset of No. 1 Ash Barty, too.

“The crowd is next-level this year,” Rogers told the fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium after rallying from 5-2 down in the third set to top Barty. “You’ve picked who you want to win, so thank you for picking me tonight.”

Rogers came into the match 0-5 against Barty, the reigning Wimbledon champion. Four of those losses came this year.

No fans were allowed to attend the U.S. Open a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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9:30 p.m.

No. 1 Ash Barty is out of the U.S. Open.

Shelby Rogers rallied from down 5-2 in the third set to upset Barty 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 (5) at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the fourth round.

Rogers had been 0-6 lifetime against top-seeded players.

Rogers, the last American left in the women’s draw, was fantastic in the third, hitting backhand winners and using a 103 mph serve to fight her way back against the reigning Wimbledon champion.

Barty had not dropped a set in the tournament but was sloppy from the start. She made 17 unforced errors in the first set and then three more when she held a 5-2 lead in the third that let Rogers back in.

As they are for most Americans, the Ashe crowd roared for Rogers on every winner, and she waved her arms and exhorted the fans to get louder. The 28-year-old Rogers broke Barty twice in the third when Barty served for the match.

Rogers beat Barty for the first time in six career meetings, five of them this year.

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8:45 p.m.

Jenson Brooksby became the youngest American man to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open since Andy Roddick in 2002.

The 20-year-old Brooksby advanced with his five-set win over 21st-seeded Russian Aslan Karatsev, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Brooksby joined Frances Tiafoe as the American men to have already advanced to the fourth round. Brooksby will play No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Monday.

Roddick also was 20.

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5:50 p.m.

Iga Swiatek reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Anett Kontaveit.

She’s the first Polish woman in five years to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows. The seventh-seeded Swiatek has now advanced to the fourth round of each of the Grand Slam tournaments over her career.

Up next, a match with Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic.

The 2020 French Open champion was the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam singles title.

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5:40 p.m.

Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of the calendar-year Grand Slam is still alive at the U.S. Open.

Djokovic dropped the first set to Kei Nishikori before he rallied for a 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Djokovic avoided a recent run of upsets at Flushing Meadows and improved to 24-0 in Grand Slam matches this season. Djokovic has won his past 17 matches against 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori.

He’s trying to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969. No man has won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in the same season since Rod Laver.

The No. 1-seed Djokovic is the first man since Laver to claim a season’s first three major trophies. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal never even got just halfway there by winning the Australian Open and French Open in the same year.

Djokovic, a 34-year-old from Serbia, shares the men’s mark of 20 career major titles with Federer and Nadal, who are injured and not playing in the U.S. Open.

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4:45 p.m.

Emma Raducanu continues to roll at the U.S. Open, using a straight-sets victory to advance to the fourth round.

Raducanu beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0, 6-1 to set up a potential date with top-seeded Ash Barty. Barty was scheduled to play Saturday night against Shelby Rogers.

Raducanu, who was born in Canada and represents Britain, is into the fourth round at the U.S. Open after getting to Week 2 of Wimbledon in her major debut at age 18.

Raducanu has won all 12 sets she has played in New York, with three wins in qualifying and three in the main draw.

She had 29 winners against Tormo.

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2 p.m.

Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic and French Open semifinalist Maria Sakkari are back in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows after straight-set victories.

The 11th-seeded Bencic eliminated No. 23 Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 in a rematch from the Summer Games.

Bencic was a semifinalist at the 2019 U.S. Open for her best Grand Slam showing.

The 17th-seeded Sakkari collected her eighth victory this season against an opponent ranked in the top 20 by defeating two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-3.

Sakkari hit nine aces, was never broken and has made it to Week 2 at the U.S. Open for the second year in a row.

Kvitova finished with more than twice as many unforced errors, 34-16.

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12:25 p.m.

Bianca Andreescu is now 10-0 for her U.S. Open career and back in the fourth round of the tournament she won in 2019.

The sixth-seeded Canadian had little trouble advancing with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over 104th-ranked Greet Minnen of Belgium. Minnen got into the field as a “lucky loser” — someone who lost in qualifying but moved into the main draw when another player withdrew.

Minnen has never beaten a top-10 player and never had much of a chance in this one. It took barely more than an hour as Andreescu delivered 21 winners and made just 11 unforced errors, while saving all four break points she faced.

Andreescu beat Serena Williams in the final in New York two years ago in her U.S. Open debut at age 19. Andreescu then missed last year’s trip to Flushing Meadows with one of a series of injuries that have interrupted her still-young career.

Next for her will be a match against either two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari.

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11:30 a.m.

Novak Djokovic will try to avoid a recent run of upsets at Flushing Meadows and improve to 24-0 in Grand Slam matches this season when he takes on Kei Nishikori in Arthur Ashe Stadium to highlight third-round action.

Djokovic has won his past 16 matches against 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori.

Djokovic is attempting to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since Rod Laver won all four major championships in 1969.

Also on Saturday’s schedule on a sunny day: 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu. She is facing Greet Minnen at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

No. 1 Ash Barty and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev are due to play in Arthur Ashe Stadium at night.

Defending champion Naomi Osaka and two leading men’s seeds — No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 5 Andrey Rublev — all lost Friday.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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