The buzz was palpable from early in the first set. The “USA” chants. Some “let’s go Tommy” lines mixed in, too. This was Tommy Paul’s match — even with No. 1 Jannik Sinner standing on the other side of the net — on Tommy Paul’s night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
All he had to do was pull off the upset.
For two sets, that remained a possibility, even as Paul dropped two tiebreaks and played Sinner just as close as he possibly could without reversing that scoreline.
And then Paul fell apart. Sinner found a groove. The third set unraveled.
Paul’s night, trying to give the United States three players in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, ended with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 loss.
Paul built a 4-1 lead in the opening set by winning 11 consecutive points, with the final one breaking Sinner and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
But Sinner won the next four games and took the lead, with the pair eventually exchanging games until the tiebreak arrived.
With a chance to take a 2-1 lead, Paul slammed a finishing spike into the net.
He still got the score to 3-all, but lost the final four games to drop the set.
A similar flow unfolded in the second set.
Sinner held serve and took all four points to force another tiebreak, and when Paul had a chance to go up two points, Sinner prevented that with a series of volleys.
But when the third set arrived, everything changed.
Paul couldn’t hold his serve like he did in the first two sets.
He couldn’t complete the rallies with the same finishing shots. When one final shot from Paul landed out, Sinner escaped.
And that ended Paul’s night without a final celebration.
It left just two Americans — Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz — in the quarterfinals to end the country’s 21-year Grand Slam drought.
