WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Women's world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and men's second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz reached the singles fourth round in straight sets respectively, while Taylor Townsend shocked the fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the women's singles third round of the 2025 US Open on Friday.
Confronting Canadian Leylah Fernandez, Sabalenka of Belarus shook off a slow start in the tournament's first two rounds and clinched a 6-3 win in the first set. The 31st seed Fernandez forced the second set to a tie-breaker, but Sabalenka managed to seal the victory 7-6 (2).
Russian talent Andreeva, 18, was upset by Townsend 5-7, 2-6. The best singles result for Andreeva in Grand Slams this year was the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
The 29-year-old Townsend said after the match, "All I want to say is welcome to the show. The job is not done. I am going to continue what I did tonight."
Spaniard Alcaraz continued his good form and eased past Italy's Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. "I just tried to start awake," Alcaraz said. "My first goal was to start well, to start focused, to start with energy. I think I started pretty well, pushing him [Darderi] to the limit, trying to play long rallies, get a good rhythm with the serve and the return, and after that just keep it going."
In men's doubles, top-seeded British pair Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool were upset by Alexander Erler of Austria and American Robert Galloway 6-7 (6), 6-7 (4) in the first round.
In women's doubles, China's Wang Yafan and Japan's Shuko Aoyama edged China's Jiang Xinyu and Chan Hao-ching of Chinese Taipei 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3), Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai and Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova beat Jaqueline Cristian of Romania and Italy's Angelica Moratelli 6-2, 6-2, and China's Yuan Yue paired up with Camila Osorio of Colombia to win over Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and British Olivia Nicholls 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
In other women's doubles matches, Chinese pair Zhu Lin and Zheng Saisai lost to Monica Niculescu of Romania and Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 4-6, while China's Tang Qianhui and American Sabrina Santamaria were defeated by British pair Sonay Kartal and Katie Boulter 1-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5). ■
