NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):
12:35 a.m.
Juan Martin del Potro is through to the fourth round at the U.S. Open.
The 2009 champion beat No. 31 seed Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the final match of the night.
Next up for del Potro, the No. 3 seed, is No. 20 seed Borna Coric.
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10:25 p.m.
Stan Wawrinka’s return to the U.S. Open is over.
The 2016 champion was eliminated by No. 25 seed Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-3 in the third round. Wawrinka’s nine-match winning streak in Flushing Meadows was snapped.
Wawrinka had to miss the tournament in 2017 and had two left knee surgeries. The three-time Grand Slam tournament champion from Switzerland was given a wild card into this year’s tournament after his ranking fell too low with all his missed time, and he knocked out No. 8 seed Grigor Dimitrov in his opening match.
Raonic will face No. 11 seed John Isner in the fourth round.
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9:30 p.m.
The 30th tour-level meeting between the Williams sisters turned into one of the most-lopsided of them all.
Serena Williams crushed her sister Venus Williams 6-1, 6-2 and cruised into the fourth round of the U.S. Open. Venus’ three points matched the lowest total ever for one sister in their matchups.
Their very first head-to-head showdown came in the second round at the Australian Open in 1998. Venus won that one, but Serena leads their series 18-12, including 11-5 at majors.
Serena rolled her right ankle in the first set and was heavily taped but it couldn’t stop her from steamrolling over her sister. But they hugged after the match in a very subdued celebration for Serena. Serena had 10 aces.
This was their earliest Grand Slam matchup since their initial one 20 years ago.
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7:30 p.m.
U.S. Open finalist Kevin Anderson survived a scare from 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov and won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
Anderson lost to three-time U.S. Open champion Rafael Nadal in last year’s final. The 32-year-old South African proved he was no one-slam wonder when he reached the Wimbledon final this year. He lost to Novak Djokovic.
Shapovalov had the crowd behind him under the closed roof of Louis Armstrong Stadium and seemed poised to break through with one of the biggest wins of his career.
Anderson held him off and played his best set in the fifth, to top the Canadian sensation.
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7 p.m.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal barely got through a real test in the third round of the U.S. Open, edging No. 27 seed Karen Khachanov 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) in an entertaining, back-and-forth match that lasted 4 hours, 23 minutes.
Nadal kept getting pushed to the brink and kept coming up with the answers.
He was two points away from falling into a two-set hole.
He was two points away from dropping the third set.
He was one point from losing the fourth set and being pushed to a fifth.
Instead, the No. 1-ranked Nadal moved into the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the 10th time in his past 11 appearances.
Nadal is bidding for his fourth U.S. Open championship and 18th Grand Slam title overall.
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5:15 p.m.
Dominic Thiem has won another lengthy match to reach the fourth round.
The No. 9 seed beat American Taylor Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a match that lasted 3 hours, 19 minutes.
Each of the last two sets took more than an hour before Thiem moved on to a matchup with either 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Kevin Anderson or Denis Shapovalov.
Thiem won a five-set match that lasted 3:34 against another American, Steve Johnson, in the previous round.
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4:50 p.m.
The roof has been closed at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
It was shut for the first time at the U.S. Open when light rain hit during the Denis Shapovalov vs. Kevin Anderson match. There was also a 12-minute break in the Rafael Nadal vs. Karen Khachanov match when it rained and the roof also was closed at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
There are two retractable roofs in use at the Open: the one added to Arthur Ashe Stadium that’s been in use for the past two years, and the one at the rebuilt 14,069-seat Armstrong arena, which will host night sessions, too.
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3:30 p.m.
No. 7 seed Elina Svitolina has reached the U.S. Open’s fourth round for the second consecutive year, eliminating 52nd-ranked Wang Qiang 6-4, 6-4.
Svitolina will try to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time when she faces No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova on Sunday.
Sevastova advanced by beating Ekaterina Makaraova 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
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2:10 p.m.
Defending U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens grabbed the last three games after a brief break while the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof was shut because of a light rain and beat two-time runner-up Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
Stephens had gone from leading 3-1 to trailing 4-3 in the second set when drops fell and the decision was made to close the arena.
When Stephens ended the match with a cross-court forehand winner, she pumped both arms repeatedly. After shaking hands with Azarenka, Stephens again celebrated that way.
The No. 3 seed Stephens will face No. 15 Elise Mertens next.
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1:50 p.m.
The retractable roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium was closed because of light rain during the second set of defending U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens’ third-round match against Victoria Azarenka.
The match was delayed for less than 10 minutes.
Play continued on other courts without interruption, including the new Louis Armstrong Stadium, which has a retractable roof, too.
The $150 million Ashe roof was first used during the 2016 U.S. Open.
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1:20 p.m.
No. 15 seed Elise Mertens continued her breakthrough season by reaching the U.S. Open’s fourth round with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 23 Barbora Strycova.
Mertens had never won a match at Flushing Meadows until this week.
The 22-year-old Belgian has now completed a full set of career-best showings at each Grand Slam tournament in 2018. She got to the semifinals at the Australian Open, the fourth round at the French Open and the third round at Wimbledon.
Mertens will next play Sloane Stephens or Victoria Azarenka.
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10:15 a.m.
The chair umpire who climbed out of his seat to talk with Nick Kyrgios during a second-round match will continue to officiate during the U.S. Open.
U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier tells The Associated Press that a “comprehensive review conducted by a number of tournament officials” determined that chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani’s mid-match chat with Kyrgios went “beyond our protocol.”
But Widmaier said that Lahyani would not be sanctioned, on account of his “exemplary track record as an international tennis official.”
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10 a.m.
Defending U.S. Open champions Rafael Nadal and Sloane Stephens are on the schedule for the third round at Flushing Meadows.
The No. 3-seeded Stephens begins the day session in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday by facing former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion and two-time finalist in New York.
That will be followed by the top-ranked Nadal’s match against No. 27 Karen Khachanov of Russia.
The highlight of the night session in the main arena is the 30th tour-level matchup between Serena and Venus Williams. This is the earliest the sisters have played each other at a Grand Slam tournament since Venus beat Serena in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open, their first matchup as pros.
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