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Price, who was playing in a fourth Grand Prix final, claimed the first set with a stunning 132 three-dart average.

He raced into a 3-0 lead and Humphries admitted afterwards that avoiding a 6-0 clean sweep was on his mind such was the brutality that Price was producing.

The fourth set saw the momentum swing however. With Price waiting on tops to move to within two sets of victory, Humphries nicked it by taking out a brilliant 105, with what he said “felt like the biggest shot of my career”.

From there his levels started to rise and he claimed the following three sets to lead.

Price rallied in set eight and won three successive legs to force a best-of-three finale, but, after a short break, Humphries found another gear.

Set nine went to a deciding leg, but unlike the previous four sets in the match where that had happened, there was a break of throw, with Humphries finishing in 10 darts.

That left Price dejected and Humphries won three unanswered legs to claim a ninth major PDC title.

“The sport is in such a special place that when you pick these trophies up they mean a lot more,” said Humphries.

“When I was winning, I don’t think there were so many good players. I’m happy to win a couple a year – one a year is great.

“To go on and win like I did is going to be tough. I don’t think I can’t do it, I’m just trying to pick up as many titles as I can.

“I worked incredibly hard, showed a lot of grit and determination. I think these are a lot sweeter than the ones you win with ease.”

Alexander Zverev used his greater experience to beat home hope Ben Shelton in the US Open final and quiet a partisan crowd hoping to laud a rare American men’s champion.

German top seed Zverev lifted a heavy burden by winning his first major title at this year’s French Open and has quickly added another with a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 6-2 victory over Shelton in New York.

At the start of the season, there were question marks over whether 29-year-old Zverev would ever win one of the sport’s biggest prizes.

Now he is celebrating becoming a multiple Grand Slam singles champion, having seen the path to glory partially cleared by injuries to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner and Alcaraz swept the board between them at the majors in 2024 and 2025 – and Zverev has taken full advantage against the rest of the field in their absences.

Big-hitting Shelton has long been identified as a player who can win the most prestigious titles, but ultimately came up short in his first Grand Slam final against a rejuvenated Zverev.

Eighth seed Shelton was aiming to become the first American man to win a major title since Andy Roddick in 2003, but losing serve in the first game of the match set the tone as Zverev controlled the opening two sets.

The momentum shifted in the third set, however, as Shelton finally started applying serious pressure on Zverev’s serve.

Taking his third break opportunity provided encouragement to the 24,000 home fans on Arthur Ashe Stadium, but Zverev quickly reasserted his authority early in the fourth to extinguish American dreams.

Zverev did not initially know he had secured victory when Shelton hit a return long on championship point, only breaking out into a broad and slightly surprised smile after his team pointed out the score to him.

Rybakina rarely shows emotion on the court but there was a brief flash of a smile as she clinched her second major victory of an outstanding 2026 season.

That illustrated the sense of satisfaction she felt after winning a title few had predicted – not only because she had never previously gone beyond the last 16 in New York but the circumstances coming into the final major of the season.

With her penetrating serve and thunderous groundstrokes, Rybakina has a brand of first-strike tennis that can take the racquet out of anyone’s hands.

Therefore it has been a surprise she has not enjoyed greater success on the Flushing Meadows hard courts, perhaps a result of her personality not being particularly suited to the brash nature of New York.

“I was coming here for the last 10 years and it was never successful. I’m falling in love with New York more and more,” Rybakina, 27, said.

What makes the second seed’s victory even more remarkable is that she was unsure if she would be fit enough to even play.

Rybakina was unable to walk for several days after injuring her ankle in the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, putting her chances of competing here in serious jeopardy.

Not only was Rybakina able to play, but she cruised through her opening four matches thanks to a huge service game that rarely allowed opponents to get into points.

Rybakina’s next two wins over China’s Zheng Qinwen and home favourite Coco Gauff required more work after losing the first sets, proving she had the durability to come through tough battles.

Against Sabalenka, she showed both facets of her game, bullying her from the baseline and digging in when necessary to leave her only a French Open title away from the career Grand Slam.

“Some magic is happening. I was unlucky with injury and just going day by day,” Rybakina told Sky Sports.

“We didn’t know how it was going to be so I’m super happy and still can’t believe it.”

In the evening session, with a star-studded crowd watching on, it was over to Shelton and Tiafoe to provide the entertainment – and they did not disappoint.

The pair combined for 74 winners, with 47 coming from the racquet of Shelton, who also sent down 20 aces as he backed up a stunning quarter-final win over Carlos Alcaraz with another memorable showing.

He won 77% points behind his first serve, while successfully targeting the second serve of Tiafoe, winning 62% of points when he opponent failed to land a first serve.

Shelton signalled his intent with an ace hammered down the T to start the match as the pair went at each other from the outset.

While an early break-point chance passed Tiafoe by, the 11th seed continued to threaten the Shelton serve and, aided by a double fault, broke for 5-4 before serving out the set.

Shelton wasted no time in mounting his comeback in the second, though, as he lasered a forehand down the line to break to love for a 2-0 lead.

Although Tiafoe broke back immediately, Shelton remained in the ascendancy and the pressure told as he broke to lead 5-3 before seeing out the set.

The third set included a number of scintillating rallies, Tiafoe coming out on top after 31 shots back and forth to stave off a break point – only for his opponent to hit a winner at the end of a 28-shot rally to break a couple of games later.

Shelton broke again at the end of a gruelling 15-minute game to take a two-sets-to-one lead.

The chance to regroup and take a breather between sets resulted in a refreshed Tiafoe mounting an early attack in the fourth, but he failed to convert two break points in the opening game, Shelton got his chance at 6-5 and brought up three match points.

Shelton netted on the first of them, but that was the last shot he played as a Tiafoe double fault gave a thrilling contest a rather tame end.

Reunited three-time US Open men’s doubles champions Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram knocked out last year’s winners Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos to reach the semi-finals.

Britain’s Salisbury won the title at at Flushing Meadows in New York alongside American Ram in 2021, 2022 and 2023, but they split in 2024 before teaming up again this year.

They won 6-4 6-4 against the second seeds and will face 2024 runners-up Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz from Germany on Thursday.

In the other half of the draw, Briton Henry Patten and Finn Harri Heliovaara saved three match points on their way to a 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 triumph over seventh seeds Manuel Guinard and Guido Andreozzi.

Wimbledon champions and top seeds Patten and Heliovaara spurned four set points in the opening set and had to stave off match points in the second.

They will meet Briton Neal Skupski and American Christian Harrison, who beat Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 6-3 6-2 in the last quarter-final.

In the women’s doubles, top seeds Katerina Siniakova, from the Czech Republic, and American Taylor Townsend are one victory away from lifting all four Grand Slam titles together after winning 6-0 7-6 (10-8) against Diana Shnaider and Elise Mertens.

They will contest Friday’s final with Americans Robin Montgomery and Ashlyn Krueger, who saved three match points and came from 8-2 down in the match tie-break to beat second seeds Luisa Stefani and Gabriella Dabrowski 4-6 6-4 7-6 (10-8).

Blockx’s dream run in New York ended in cruel fashion earlier on Wednesday as the Belgian was forced to retire after suffering a series of injuries in his quarter-final against Khachanov.

Playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final, the 21-year-old first received medical treatment for a blister on his foot before struggling with a back issue.

“I think today my body just gave up,” said Blockx, who had come close to retiring from his fourth-round win against Francisco Cerundolo with a rib injury.

“During the match, it was quite funny to me. I just had to laugh it off because it was just something new the whole time.

“I felt it was getting worse and worse. I couldn’t land without feeling pain, without feeling my back, my ribs. So I just didn’t want to yeah, maybe make it worse to miss the entire season.”

Khachanov wished Blockx a “speedy recovery” after he secured his place in a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time since the Australian Open in 2023.

A former world number eight, a disappointing run of results over the past few months have resulted in Khachanov’s ranking dipping to 50 and he is unseeded at a major for the first time since 2018.

The 30-year-old said he will have to come up with his “best form” to defeat Zverev and reach his first major final.

“He’s been in the top five for so many years. This year he did also step forward. He won his first Grand Slam, played the final in Wimbledon, as well. He’s coming up really in hot form,” Khachanov said.

Zverev, meanwhile, says he will have to be wary of his opponent and his extensive knowledge of the game.

“We call him [Khachanov] ‘The Professor’, actually, because he knows everything about tennis, and he knows every single string tension, knows what everybody does, so that’s quite fun,” Zverev said.

After 99 weeks, there will be a new women’s world number one – and it will be Elena Rybakina.

Rybakina confirmed she will replace Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the world rankings on Monday with her US Open quarter-final victory over China’s Zheng Qinwen.

Despite losing a set for the first time in the tournament, Rybakina fought back and saved a break point in the deciding set to complete a 3-6 6-1 6-4 win.

She is the first Kazakhstani man or woman to reach the top of the singles standings.

Rybakina has been in hot pursuit of Sabalenka this season and arrived in New York as one of three women who threatened the Belarusian’s position, alongside Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff.

However, the other three contenders each needed to win the title and hope Rybakina exited before the semi-finals to capture the number one spot.

Sabalenka’s consecutive 99-week reign as world number one stretches back to 21 October 2024 and stands as the sixth-longest streak in WTA history.

The top two players could yet meet in the US Open final – just as they did at this year’s Australian Open, where Rybakina prevailed in three sets.

For Rybakina, the trophy is more important than her new ranking.

“It’s just a number right now. My goal is to win the tournaments which I play,” the 27-year-old sad.

“It’s an amazing achievement, but you know how quickly everything can change in tennis ranking-wise.”

Rybakina will face either Coco Gauff or Mirra Andreeva in Thursday’s semi-finals, while Sabalenka takes on Jessica Pegula.

Unseeded Michelsen came into the match in fine form, having not dropped a set at the tournament prior to facing Tiafoe, and grasped the momentum in the first set.

After the pair traded breaks of serve early in the match, Michelsen got the deciding break at 6-5 in a set where he fired 15 winners to Tiafoe’s four.

Michelsen continued to have the upper hand, with his backhand proving decisive on key points and, after taking the second set, he went up a break early in the third.

It was not until Michelsen was serving for the match at 5-4 that nerves began to hit. He served two double faults and Tiafoe broke to level, won the set and took the opening three games of the fourth set.

After holding Michelsen off, Tiafoe took the match to a deciding set where the pair traded multiple breaks of serve – invigorating the spectators on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

A fan favourite, Tiafoe thrived off the energy of the New York crowd as he then got the better of the tie-break to seal his fourth five-set victory at a major in 2026.

“He’s a great guy for consoling me in that moment,” said Michelsen of their post-match embrace.

“I was trying to keep it together, and I didn’t do a good job of that. He was saying a lot of nice personal things.

“I’ve got a lot of time to grow physically and mentally. I’m going to be here again. I know it.”

Tiafoe is hoping to reach the final at Flushing Meadows for the first time, following defeats by Alcaraz in 2022 and Taylor Fritz in 2024.

Sabalenka began the match in cruise control, breaking in sixth seed Noskova’s opening service game and racing into a 5-2 lead, before being broken as she served for the set.

Although she dominated the subsequent tie-break, the double fault she hit in her last service game – one of four in the match – would prove a feature of her performance, as would her failure to convert break points.

She wasted three early in the second set before conceding a break in the sixth game with a double fault at 30-40 as Noskova forced a decider.

After hitting two more double faults to be broken for a third time, she looked down and out after Noskova held to love for a 4-2 lead, but won the next three games to turn the match around.

She then won the tie-break – for a 10th successive time at the US Open, in a run dating back to 2021 – to complete her comeback, sealing the victory with a nerveless second-serve ace.

This was only Sabalenka’s second quarter-final victory since March, with the top seed unable to replicate her early season hard-court success – which included titles in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami – on the clay or grass.

She suffered last-16 exits in Toronto and Cincinnati in the build-up to the US Open, but has rediscovered something approaching her best form at the tournament where she is yet to lose a quarter-final in six attempts.

For Noskova, this defeat, during which she hit more winners, fewer unforced errors, and saved seven of her nine break points, ends a run of 11 consecutive singles wins at Grand Slams.

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.”

Keys appeared on course for a first fourth-round appearance at her home slam since 2023 after taking a commanding third set lead against Olympic champion Zheng.

But the 2025 Australian Open winner would miss a match point and lose each of the final seven games in a 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 loss that stunned the crowd.

The 31-year-old Keys said she felt as though she “couldn’t play tennis anymore” in the final set.

“I obviously got off to a really good lead, and then I got really scared, like I couldn’t swing [the racquet],” Keys said.

“I felt like I couldn’t play tennis anymore. It just felt like it was a much bigger deal than just playing a tennis match all of a sudden.”

Keys, who lost the 2017 US Open final to fellow American Sloane Stephens, went out in the fourth round at the other three majors in 2026.

“I feel like I’ve been struggling for a while now. I’m going to have to make some sort of changes,” Keys said.

“I just kind of keep putting it off because that’s how the tennis world works. It’s just to the point where I actually need to do something about it.”

Anisimova, beaten by world number one Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s US Open final, lost in straight sets to Russian-born Austrian 24th seed Anastasia Potapova.

The 25-year-old was visibly frustrated with herself throughout the contest, losing her serve twice in the first set and four times in a topsy-turvy second.

Meanwhile, two-time champion Naomi Osaka fought back from a break down in the decider to see off Belgian 23rd seed Elise Mertens.

Osaka, seeded 13th, won 6-3 3-6 7-5 to set up a last-16 match against second seed Elena Rybakina.

Kazakhstan’s Rybakina, who knows she will be guaranteed to become the new world number one if she reaches the semi-finals, demonstrated her quality in a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory over Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva.

For once, the 20,000-odd fans on a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium sat quietly engrossed during points.

The sight of the Williams sisters back on court together at the US Open – possibly for the final time – commanded ultimate respect from a chatty crowd known to let their attention wander.

The siblings changed the face of the sport when they emerged as precocious teenagers in the 1990s, going on to dominate the sport with a combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 doubles victories as a pair.

Three decades later, the sport remains captivated by them.

Serena, a 23-time Grand Slam women’s singles champion, coming out of retirement this summer sparked excitement among those who saw her in their prime and those too young to have witnessed it.

Seven-time major winner Venus has never “evolved away” from the sport – the words chosen by her younger sister when she last played in 2022 – but instead continued her career with the help of sporadic wildcards.

While that has proved controversial in some quarters, there were few objections about the sisters being invited to play once again at Flushing Meadows.

Their planned return at Wimbledon was scuppered by the knee injury which Serena suffered in her singles match there – ironically a defeat by 20-year-old Joint – before they finally reunited at the WTA event in Cincinnati.

The comeback ended in a match tie-break defeat by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and her American partner Peyton Stearns, with the same fate befalling them in New York.

When the Williams sisters last played on Ashe four years ago, they suffered a straight-set defeat by Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round.

It looked like being a similar outcome as they meekly surrendered the first set against Chan and Joint, then batted off four break points in the fifth and seventh games of the second set.

But once Serena upped her level to match her impressive sister, they managed to switch the momentum back in their favour and level the match.

An absorbing contest featuring some sensational points saw the Americans fight back again in the decider, only to falter from a commanding lead in the tie-break.

Overall it was a more than credible performance from the veteran pair. Their solid groundstrokes, sharp movement and never-say-die attitude caused problems for their opponents, who deserve huge credit for staying focused in a partisan environment.

“The atmosphere was surreal,” said Joint.

“It was something we’ve never experienced before, and to play against such legends of the game was super special.”