Djokovic dismisses Kudla, Medvedev toils past brilliant Lopez at US Open

New York City —  World No. 1 Novak Djokovic maintained his winning streak in the US Open with an easy 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win against 111th-ranked Denis Kudla of the United States in his third-round matchup on Friday.

The defending champion needed just over two hours to secure a spot in the fourth round for the 12th time in 14 appearances at the US Open, which he has won three times.

Djokovic, who faced Kudla for the first time in the second round of Wimbledon - where he also won 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2 - was always in control of the match, played on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court at Flushing Meadows in Queens.

The Serb fired 34 winners against 25 by the American, who was thoroughly outplayed, and also won 15 of 20 net points.

Djokovic’s opponent in the fourth round will be Swiss Stan Wawrinka, who defeated him in the 2016 US Open final.

In the other third-round men’s single matches on Friday, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, ranked 5th, defeated Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in four sets 7-6 (1), 4-6, 7-6 (9), 6-4.

This was the second time that 25-year-old Medvedev and 37-year-old Lopez faced each other after their match in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters in 2017, where Lopez won 7-6 (6), 7-5.

The match between Medvedev and Lopez was held on the Louis Armstrong Stadium and proved to be a spectacular end to the fifth day of the Open.

Crowd favorite Lopez forced Medvedev to play his best tennis in the three hour and 19 minutes-long match, which the Russian swung in his favor with his powerful serves in the two tiebreaker sets to reach the fourth round of the event for the first time after losing in round one and round three on previous occasions.

The Russian struck 55 winners, including 27 aces, and had 34 unforced errors while Lopez ended with 58 and 61 respectively.

With the win, Medvedev set up a fourth-round clash with 25-year-old German debutant, Dominik Koepfer, ranked 118, who pulled off a surprise 6-3, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1 win against 17th-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. EFE-EPA

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