“You’re so good, this is insane. I’m not bad, like what the f***.”
Alexander Bublik’s hilariously honest reaction said it all after he was demolished by world number one Jannik Sinner, who stormed into the US Open quarter-finals on Tuesday.
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Defending champion Sinner needed just 81 minutes to administer a brutal 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 drubbing to reach the last eight.
Bublik smiled as he embraced Sinner at the net after the defeat, having previously compared the Italian to “an AI generated player” before the match.
Sinner meanwhile said Bublik’s performance might have been impacted by his marathon five-set victory in the previous round.
“He had a very tough match the last match, today he didn’t serve as well as he usually serves, and I broke him early,” said Sinner. “Overall, I’m very happy.”
Kazakh 23rd seed Bublik had advanced to Tuesday’s last 16 clash without dropping a single service game in his three previous rounds, a remarkable 55-game unbroken streak.
But the 6ft 5in 28-year-old’s previously impregnable serve was systematically ransacked by the imperious Sinner, who is chasing his third Grand Slam title of the season in New York.
Sinner went on the offensive in the opening game of the first set, breaking Bublik immediately to set the tone for what would be a lopsided masterclass.
The Italian went on to break Bublik seven more times over the rest of the match as he sauntered into a last eight meeting with 10th-seeded compatriot Lorenzo Musetti.
The winner of that match could face Australian Alex de Minaur, who battles Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals.
The one-sided nature of the defeat prompted sympathy from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd in the third set, who cheered loudly when Bublik merely won a point as Sinner marched relentlessly towards the finish line.
Even Bublik himself found humour in being so comprehensively outgunned, raising clenched fists in delight after successfully holding serve in the fifth game of the third set.
Sinner is aiming to become the first man to successfully defend the US Open crown since Roger Federer won the last of five consecutive titles in 2008.
The top-ranked Italian has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles this season but lost to Carlos Alcaraz in a gruelling five-set battle in the French Open final
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OSAKA SMASHES HOME FAVOURITE IN STATEMENT WIN
Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka delivered a statement win by thrashing home favourite Coco Gauff in the last 16.
The Japanese star powered past third seed Gauff 6-3, 6-2 in a highly-anticipated but lopsided fourth-round showdown of former US Open champions on the Labor Day holiday in New York.
Osaka broke in the very first game in front of an expectant Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd and was untouchable on serve in a ruthless display against a misfiring Gauff, who hit 33 unforced errors.
“This is my favourite court in the world and it means so much to me to be back today,” said Osaka, who looks primed for a tilt at a fifth Grand Slam.
“This is kind of uncharted territory at this point of my career,” added Osaka.
I’m just enjoying it. I’m having fun.”
The 27-year-old, a two-time US Open champion, is enjoying her deepest run at a major since winning her second Australian Open title in 2021.
It has been a painstaking climb back towards the top of the game for Osaka, who returned to tennis last year following the birth of her daughter in 2023.
“I was in the stands two months after I gave birth watching Coco and I just really wanted an opportunity to come out here and play,” said Osaka, who also beat a 15-year-old Gauff at the US Open in their first meeting in 2019.
Gauff conceded the mental toll of a challenging first week and the efforts to remodel her faltering serve had weighed heavily on her.
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“I think emotionally how much this week was, I think today I just stepped in, and I maybe was a little bit empty,” she said.
Osaka plays Czech 11th seed Karolina Muchova in Thursday’s quarter-finals. Muchova beat Ukrainian 27th seed Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 6-3 and is seeking a third straight semi-final at Flushing Meadows
In other news from the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek brushed off Russian 13th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-1 in barely an hour to extend her Grand Slam winning streak to 11 matches as she targets a second US Open crown.
“I felt like in the beginning she played fast but later on I felt in my bubble, in the zone,” said Swiatek.
The Polish second seed could face Amanda Anisimova next in a repeat of the Wimbledon final, which Swiatek won 6-0, 6-0. The American plays Brazilian 18th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia later on Monday.
Alcaraz moves into round of 16 | 01:46
VENUS’ FAIRYTALE DOUBLES RUN CONTINUES
Meanwhile, Venus Williams prolonged her stay at the US Open on Tuesday, partnering Leylah Fernandez to reach her first Grand Slam doubles quarter-final in nearly a decade.
The 45-year-old American tennis icon and Fernandez, who was born three years after Williams won the first of her 14 Grand Slam doubles titles in 1999, defeated Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova and China’s Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-4.
It is the first time Williams has reached a Grand Slam doubles quarter-final since 2016.
Williams is playing in the doubles after receiving a last-minute invitation from US Open organisers to play in the tournament she won twice alongside younger sister Serena.
Williams later revealed that retired sibling Serena was “coaching from afar” as her big sister progressed through the doubles, and had called her earlier Monday.
“She told me, gave me a pep talk and made sure to call me today,” Williams revealed.
“I was, like, ‘You’re right. I got it. I got it.’
“She’s definitely coaching from afar. She’s so excited. She gets so nervous watching, and she’s got the kids watching, they’re all at home, just really on our side.”
Leylah Fernandez and Venus Williams are through to the next round. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
In her on-court interview after the win, Venus urged Serena to fly to New York to attend her quarter-final in person.
“If she came, it would be a dream for both of us and we’d have her on the court coaching,” Williams joked.
“We’d force her to hit, even though she doesn’t hit often. It’s probably best she doesn’t come because we’d probably bully her.”
The Williams-Fernandez pair could face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and American Taylor Townsend in the quarter-finals.
Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Williams returned to competition at the end of July at the Washington Open after sixteen months away from the WTA Tour.
She indicated after her singles defeat that the US Open would likely be her last tournament of the season.