Two hours into a high quality fourth-round tussle at the US Open on Monday night, the second set of Jannik Sinner’s duel with Tommy Paul was yet to be decided. After the crushing blow of conceding an extremely tight first set, Paul admirably fought back to force a second tie-break with an array of bold shot-making and confident forays to the net. The No 14 seed took a narrow 5-4 lead to be two points away from levelling the match at one set all.

The critical points are where the best players in the world so often separate themselves from the rest, and on Arthur Ashe Stadium they marked the difference between the two. After Paul missed two consecutive backhand second serve returns from 5-4 in the tie-break, Sinner pounced on the first set point without hesitation, lasering a brilliant forehand return that would lead to him establishing a two-set lead.

Sinner pulled away in all of the decisive moments and, in the process, produced a performance worthy of a world No 1 to move into the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Paul.

“I always get more excited also when [I] play important points, important moments,” said Sinner on his clutch play. “In my mind, this is what we practice for. This is why you make repetition in the practice courts, and where you feel more safe, where you have to maybe change up [a] couple of things trying to surprise him. You have to serve a bit smarter. In the second-set tie-break I didn’t serve very well, but trying to find a solution somehow.”

In a draw that has been wide open since the early upsets of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, the second and third seeds, Sinner further underlined his credentials as favourite to win his second grand slam title of the year. This draw, however, is extremely lopsided. The Italian will next face the only other grand slam champion in the draw, Daniil Medvedev, who is also the only remaining former US Open champion. Medvedev looked in imperious form earlier on Monday as he rolled past Nuno Borges 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.

Throughout this year, Sinner has played with a level of consistency that no men’s player beyond Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray has achieved in recent years. Sinner’s record in 2024 now stands at 52-5 (91%) and he is 32-2 (94%) on hard courts. According to Opta, he is the second-youngest player in history to reach the quarter-finals in each of his first 12 tournaments of the year.

This latest run comes two weeks after Sinner and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that the Italian had failed two anti-doping tests for the banned substance clostebol, before an independent tribunal ruled that Sinner bore no fault or negligence for the positive test.

Sinner successfully argued that the positive tests had been a result of contamination due to his physiotherapist treating a cut on his finger with an over-the-counter spray that contained clostebol and then inadvertently transferring it to Sinner through his daily massage treatments. The 23-year-old had been able to successfully lift the automatic provisional ban, meaning that he continued competing for five months without his positive test being publicly disclosed.

It was Paul who set the tone early in the fourth-round encounter, his all-court game in full flow from the beginning as he launched into forehands, swept forward to the net and established a 4-1 first set lead with two breaks. Having looked sluggish for most of the set, Sinner’s level rose rapidly and he dragged himself back into the match by forcing himself inside the baseline and dominating the exchanges with his far greater pace and weight of shot. In the tie-break, Sinner smothered Paul with his greater weaponry as he edged out the first set.

Paul immediately shook off the disappointment of losing the first set and kept hold of his serve brilliantly throughout the second. As they convened in the second set tie-break, Paul played some of his best tennis of the night to reach 5-4. The trajectory of the match was determined by just three service returns as Paul missed two backhand returns and then Sinner eviscerated a forehand return on set point, which allowed him to put away an easy forehand.

Having established a two-set lead, Sinner rolled through the third set to return to the quarter-finals at the US Open for the third time in his career. “The margins were very small,” said Paul. “For me that’s motivation. Obviously we have two Americans still left in the tournament, but it’s never really felt this open, in a way.”

Elsewhere, Iga Swiatek continued to build momentum in the top half of the draw as she returned to the quarter-finals with an efficient 6-4, 6-0 win over Liudmila Samsonova, the 16th seed. The women’s world No 1’s win sets up an exciting quarter-final against Jessica Pegula.

Pegula continued her summer resurgence as she defeated Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-2. The sixth seed has now reached seven grand slam quarter-finals but still seeks her first major semi-final. In order to break new ground, she will have to topple the best player in the world.