quarterfinals

Rybakina, 27, dropped only four points in a near flawless performance on serve against four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka, who said after the match she was struggling with pain in her leg.

She faced the 28-year-old full of confidence, having not dropped a set in her opening three matches at the tournament, and took control of the contest in a dominant first set.

Reigning Australian Open champion Rybakina opened up a double break over Osaka, before sealing the set in just 21 minutes.

Osaka showed greater resistance early in the second set but, after failing to convert her only break point of the match, Rybakina soon seized control again.

She broke to go 4-3 up, before safely seeing out the rest of the match, with Osaka unable to contend with her opponent’s deep groundstrokes.

Rybakina sealed the match inside 66 minutes with her seventh ace of a match where she hit a total of 29 winners to Osaka’s nine.

Asked about the gap of almost six years since her last major win, at the 2021 Australian Open, Osaka said: “I thought about it, and if I win another Grand Slam, it’s not going to change my life.

“That’s kind of crazy that I can say that, because I remember the first Slam that I won, it was, like, a huge whirlwind.”

Alcaraz said after his third-round win that he was happy with the level of fitness he had shown in the early rounds following his lengthy absence, while he demonstrated against Paul that the quality of his shot-making is as good as ever.

One sensational cross-court forehand winner early in the second set, which landed in from an almost impossible angle, was measured at 103mph.

That came shortly after Alcaraz had broken Paul’s serve in the 10th game of a tight, high-quality opening set to take it 6-4.

Paul, who was attempting to reach the quarter-finals of his home Grand Slam for the first time, battled hard throughout but Alcaraz proved to be too strong.

Paul had two break points when Alcaraz served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but the two-time US Open champion put together a run of four straight points to seal victory.

Former British number one Tim Henman told Sky Sports: “When you haven’t played tennis for four weeks, it seems a lot and you can be a bit rusty. This is four and a half months.

“If you would have given Alcaraz a blank piece of paper at the beginning of the tournament and asked how he’d want the first four matches to go, he would have scripted it exactly like that.

“He’s had a few slightly challenging moments but, in the important moments, he’s just come up with incredible tennis. That’s got to give him so much confidence moving forward.”

Later on Sunday, home hope Frances Tiafoe delighted American fans with a entertaining victory over 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev.

Tiafoe saved a set point in the third-set tie-break before wrapping up a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win moments later to maintain his perfect record on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The 11th seed has won all 10 of his matches on the US Open’s secondary show court, while it is just his second win in eight appearances against Russian Medvedev.

Tiafoe, a two-time semi-finalist in New York, will face fellow American Alex Michelsen in the last eight after the 22-year-old beat Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 6-4 to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.

The match began with five successive breaks of serve – mostly due to excellent returning by both players – but it was Sabalenka who finally took charge.

Doubles specialist Townsend, who walked out wearing a long, black-feathered outfit, continued to frustrate Sabalenka and forced her to serve out the set at the second opportunity, before making the breakthrough in the second set.

But Sabalenka, aware she must lift the trophy to have a chance of retaining her number one ranking, produced an immediate reply as she broke back to love.

That signalled the start of Sabalenka’s dash to the finish line. The top seed lost just five points across the final five games to end Townsend’s challenge in 75 minutes.

Sabalenka was full of praise for Townsend, saying: “What an incredible player she is, approaching the net, a great returner, moving well, very brave.

“You can see how focused she was. It was really challenging playing her, especially here.

“Thank you so much [to the crowd] for being so respectful to me. I knew coming into this match that you guys would be on her side, but you were sometimes cheering for me and I really appreciate that.”

At home on the US Open hard courts, Sabalenka has not failed to reach the semi-finals here since 2020.

But, following a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon, she is aiming to avoid a first season without a major title since 2022.

Noskova’s sense of relief was cleared as she crouched to the ground after taking her sixth match point about an hour after earning her first.

The 21-year-old served for the match in the second set, but missed her first two match points as Kostyuk battled back from 5-3 down to force a decider.

The players exchanged breaks of serve in a tense final set, but it was Noskova who emerged, once again, with a 5-3 advantage.

Noskova failed to take her next two match points as a couple of misses helped Kostyuk to deuce, and missed her fifth after saving a break point, before finally getting over the line after an emotionally draining two and a half hours on court.

“I am more than relieved, this match was so tough, emotionally a bit more than physically,” Noskova said.

“Today was very close, it could have ended both ways. With all the chances I had in the second set, it was tough to still kind of restart.”

Teenager Stan Moody knocked four-time champion John Higgins out of the British Open with a 4-2 victory in the last 16.

Moody, 19, progressed to the quarter-finals for the second successive year thanks to a strong finish at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Scot Higgins, 51, twice came from behind to level at 2-2, but a break of 46 nudged Moody 3-2 ahead before a 69 clearance – after four-time world champion Higgins led 61-0 – sealed victory.

Moody will face fellow Englishman Liam Highfield in the last eight on Friday.

Judd Trump breezed into the quarter-finals by beating fellow Englishman David Gilbert 4-0 thanks to breaks of 118 and 105 in the final two frames.

Trump, 37, will face China’s Zhao Xintong after the world number one overcame England’s Mark Joyce 4-2.

Englishman Jack Lisowski triumphed 4-1 over China’s Lyu Haotian to set up a meeting with England’s four-time world champion Mark Selby, who beat Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko 4-2.

Wales’ Jak Jones defeated Latvian Artemus Zizins 4-2, while Northern Ireland’s Aaron Hill beat China’s Fan Zhengyi 4-0 and Highfield saw off China’s Long Zehuang 4-1.