Murray Ousted By Auger-Aliassime At US Open; Shapovalov v Fritz

Two days after going close to five hours, Andy Murray had little left to trouble the 20-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime who blew out the Scot 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round at the US Open.

Auger-Aliassime was never troubled on serve and never even faced a break point cracking 24 aces in the match that lasted just over two hours.

The Canadian will await the winner between Corentin Moutet and Dan Evans who had their match suspended.

Dominic Thiem celebrated his 27th birthday by thumping Indian No. 1 Sumit Nagal 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

“I was playing well today,” said Thiem. “I had a good plan for the match. He’s very dangerous when he can dictate with his forehand. I was exactly trying to avoid that. He also has very, very fast legs… I was trying to play my fastest tennis to keep him on the backhand, to not let him dictate with the forehand. I did that very well today.

“I think the only bad game he played was at 4-3 to me, in the first set, where he kind of came back into the match after he broke me, then he did some unforced errors. Besides that, I think it was a good match on a quite good level. I’m happy to be through in straight sets.”

The Russians all advanced. Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev combined to go 9-0 in sets on Thursday.

Medvedev, the 2019 finalist, now meets young American 21-year-old JJ Wolf while Khachanov will have a big test against Alex De Minaur.

“The biggest positive is that I won in three sets. Late match, so I didn’t want to finish too late,” Medvedev said. “Great level, he’s not an easy opponent… I’m happy with my performance to go through.”

Roberto Bautista Agut advanced as did 2019 semifinalist Matteo Berrettini.

Two upsets were had, though. Grigor Dimitrov fell in five sets to Marton Fucsovics 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. The Hungarian will now face Frances Tiafoe who also came from 2-1 down to beat John Millman.

And Vasek Pospisil upended popular pick and Western and Southern finalist Milos Raonic in four sets 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3.

“I feel great,” said Pospisil. “We both started maybe a little bit nervously, as we’ve known each other a long time. But I was reading his serve well today and it’s always a matter of a few points. I’m happy to have beaten Milos today. I have struggled with back issues for a few years and I haven’t felt this good since 2014.”

Novak Djokovic returns Friday to take on Jan-Lennard Struff. Djokovic is a perfect 25-0 on the year. Also on Ashe, Denis Shapovalov faces Taylor Fritz and on Armstrong Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on Borna Coric.