2013 champion Marin Cilic was stunned in the third round of the US Open, as he was beaten by Argentina’s Diego Schwartzmann. The Argentine overcame the loss of the first set to claim his first fourth round berth in New York, winning 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4.
Cilic had been handed an easier draw when he was moved to the bottom half of the draw following the late withdrawal of Andy Murray. His cause was further aided by the shock loss of fourth seed Alexander Zverev to Borna Coric in the second round, supposedly clearing the way for Cilic to reach a second consecutive grand slam final.
Yet Cilic had not played since the Wimbledon final, and had appeared rusty in his first matches, dropping a set to the American Tennys Sandgren in the first round. Yet few would have expected Schwartzmann, who is comfortable on clay to cause an upset here. Yet the Argentine sealed three breaks late in the sets and will progress.
Schwartzmann will play either 16th seed Lucas Pouille or Mikhail Kukushkin, who defeated David Ferrer in the first round.
One easy enough winner in the third round was the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. He had few problems in defeating surprise third round player Nicolas Mahut. Mahut, more comfortable on grass and in doubles had endured a torrid summer with early exits at all matches on his favourite surface. Reaching the third round for him should see him return to the Top 100 despite the 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win for Carreno Busta. The Spaniard will play the winner of Denis Shapovalov and Kyle Edmund.
In another surprising third round match, an all Italian affair between Thomas Fabbiano and Paolo Lorenzi took place. It was Lorenzi who won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. Lorenzi will wait for the winner of the match between 28th seed Kevin Anderson and Alexander Zverev’s conqueror Borna Coric.
