Cerundolo and Blockx Oust Fritz and Cobolli at US Open

Francisco Cerundolo recovered from two sets down to eliminate ninth seed Taylor Fritz in the US Open third round, while Alexander Blockx knocked out fifth seed Flavio Cobolli. The results left six top-10 seeds out of the men's singles during the tournament's opening week, according to BBC Sport.

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Fritz took command by winning the first two sets and then securing an early break in the third. Cerundolo responded to complete a 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory, sending the Argentine into the fourth round. Fritz, the 2024 US Open finalist, had been attempting to become the fifth American man to reach the last 16 of this year's event.

Cobolli followed Fritz out less than an hour later. The Italian won the opening-set tie-break against Blockx but then lost 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 0-6, 3-6. BBC Sport reported that the third set lasted only 20 minutes as the Belgian took control of the match.

Cerundolo and 28th seed Blockx will now face each other for a place in the quarter-finals. Their victories further opened the top half of the bracket, where top seed Alexander Zverev is the only remaining player ranked inside the top 10. Fourteenth seed Learner Tien and 17th seed Jakub Mensik are the only other top-20 players left in that half, with the pair due to meet.

The disruption began on the opening day when world number 49 Mariano Navone beat fourth seed Novak Djokovic in five sets. Tenth seed Arthur Fils also departed in the first round against Stefanos Tsitsipas, while third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and sixth seed Alex de Minaur were eliminated in round two.

There was British success in the men's doubles. Arthur Fery and Joshua Paris beat Anirudh Chandrasekar and Ivan Liutarevich 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, while fifth seeds Neal Skupski and Christian Harrison defeated Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez 6-0, 7-6 (7-3). David Stevenson and Marcus Willis lost in three sets to 11th seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.