Sinner avoids US Open trapdoor

NEW YORK — Jannik Sinner avoided plunging through the US Open trapdoor which claimed Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz when he stormed into the last 16 on Saturday as fellow world No. 1 Iga Swiatek stayed on course for a second New York triumph.

Australian Open champion Sinner raced past 87th-ranked Christopher O’Connell 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.

The 23-year-old Italian’s win came a day after four-time champion Djokovic was sent spinning to his earliest loss in New York in 18 years by Alexei Popyrin.

One day earlier, 2022 winner Alcaraz was defeated in the second round by Dutch journeyman Botic van de Zandschulp.

Four-time French Open champion Swiatek was equally dominant as Sinner as the top-seeded Pole eased into the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

With Djokovic and Alcaraz heading home to Europe, Daniil Medvedev finds himself as the only former champion left in the men’s tournament.

The eccentric Russian, seeded five, swept past Flavio Cobolli, the world number 31 from Italy, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.