South Africa’s Kevin Anderson survived another tough five-setter to reach the fourth round of the US Open in New York on Friday night.
Anderson, who lost to Spain’s Rafael Nadal in the 2017 final, lost his first set against 19-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov but bounced back to claim a 4-6 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-4 triumph.
The fifth-seeded Anderson needed 3hr 43min and had to deal with a biased crowd who backed the Canadian to the hilt.
But when the noise died he moved onto play fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem on Sunday.
This means his second Grand Slam final of the year is still in sight. The South African has blossomed in his 30s and reached the US Open final in 2017 and Wimbledon this year to play for major championships for the first times in his career.
Meanwhile, there was no joy for Anderson’s fellow South African Raven Klaasen as he and New Zealand doubles partner Michael Venus made an unexpected exit.
The No 8 seeds joined a number of men’s doubles seeds to exit the tournament in the opening week when they lost 6-3 7-6 (7/5) to the unseeded pairing of Maximo Gonzalez (Argentina) and Nicolas Jarry (Chile).
The South African/Kiwi pair were looking out of sorts in the opening set with a string of unforced errors and Venus losing his serve twice.
In the second set, Gonzalez and Jarry broke Klaasen’s serve in the opening game and although the South African and Venus broke back in the 10th game, it was a situation of a ‘little too late’.
In that 10th game there were signs of brilliance from Klaasen and Venus and they seemed to start playing the tennis that had got them to the Wimbledon final in July but their momentum was halted by a rain delay in the 11th game.
The improved form was short-lived as Gonzalez and Jarry regrouped and sealed the win.
PHOTO: Anderson in New York action on Friday, by Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images