Fritz and Cobolli Fall as US Open Men's Draw Opens Up

Taylor Fritz surrendered a two-set lead against Francisco Cerundolo to become one of six top-10 men's seeds eliminated during the first week of the US Open. BBC Sport reported that the ninth-seeded American lost 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 after taking an early break in the third set.

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Cerundolo's comeback carried the Argentine into the fourth round and ended the run of the 2024 US Open finalist at his home Grand Slam. Fritz had been seeking to become the fifth American man to reach the last 16 at this year's tournament, but he was unable to close out the match after controlling its opening two sets.

Fifth seed Flavio Cobolli followed Fritz out less than an hour later. Belgium's Alexander Blockx recovered from losing the first set on a tie-break to beat the Italian 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-0 6-3. Blockx won the third set in 20 minutes and maintained his advantage through the fourth.

The two winners will now meet in the fourth round for a place in the quarter-finals. Their progress adds to a series of notable departures from the men's singles draw, beginning with fourth seed Novak Djokovic's five-set first-round loss to Argentina's Mariano Navone. Djokovic had been pursuing a record-extending 25th Grand Slam singles title.

Tenth seed Arthur Fils also exited in the opening round, losing in four sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime was beaten by Karen Khachanov in the second round, while sixth seed Alex de Minaur also went out at that stage. Fritz and Cobolli brought the first-week total of eliminated top-10 seeds to six.

The results leave top seed Alexander Zverev as the only top-10 player in the upper half of the draw. BBC Sport reported that 14th seed Learner Tien and 17th seed Jakub Mensik are the only other top-20 players remaining in that half, and they are scheduled to face each other. Zverev therefore cannot meet another top-20 opponent before the semi-finals.