Carlos Alcaraz survived a Jannik Sinner match point before going on to clinch his maiden grand slam semi-final berth with an epic five-set victory in more than five hours at the US Open.

The Spanish third seed triumphed 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (0-7) 7-5 6-3 in the latest-ever finish at the US Open, officially ending at 2:50am Thursday local time.

The match was within nine minutes of being the longest ever in US Open history, the record held by Michael Chang and Stefan Edberg from 1992 of five hours and 26 minutes.

The 19-year-old fought back from a Sinner match point in the fourth set, rallying to force a fifth, where he broke the Italian 11th seed in the eighth game before serving it out for victory.

Alcaraz blew opportunities too, including five set points in the second set, while he failed to serve out the third set before Sinner won the tie-break 7-0 to take all the momentum into the fourth.

But the emerging Alcaraz showcased his doggedness even after falling a break behind in the fourth, to set up a semi-final date against 22nd seed Frances Tiafoe, who has beaten Andrey Rublev and Rafael Nadal in his past two matches.

The win also means Alcaraz is a step closer to claiming the world number one ranking for the first time, which will be achieved if he wins the title, or even if he makes the final and fifth seed Casper Ruud does not.

Data slam: Alcaraz cannot help Nadal comparisons

Alcaraz, 19, is not fond of comparisons to compatriot Rafael Nadal, but his victory means he becomes the youngest grand slam semi-finalist since the 22-time major winner in 2005. 

Little separated Alcaraz and Sinner who will both have won huge admiration, but the Italian's 63 unforced errors compared to the Spaniard's 38 was an outlier.

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS

Alcaraz – 5/5
Sinner – 8/11

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS

Alcaraz – 58/38
Sinner – 61/63

BREAK POINTS WON

Alcaraz – 11/26
Sinner – 7/16

The career of Carlos Alcaraz could be one that takes up a great deal of space in the record books, and he is getting started early.

Not yet old enough to buy a stiff drink in a New York bar, the 19-year-old was the toast of Flushing Meadows after a late-night win over Marin Cilic that ran into the early hours of Tuesday.

That five-set win against the 2014 champion, combined with the shock exit of Rafael Nadal at Frances Tiafoe's hands, has raised expectations that Alcaraz could scoop a first grand slam title on Sunday.

Should he land that breakthrough major, there will be another feather in his cap, making Alcaraz the youngest world number one since the ATP rankings were established in 1973, and the first teenager to hold down top spot. He has climbed from 32nd at the start of the year to his current position of fourth on the list.

Nadal is poised to go to number one, which he last held in February 2020, unless Alcaraz or 23-year-old Norwegian Casper Ruud reach the title match. They are the only two players remaining in the draw who can clamber to the top ranking, which Daniil Medvedev will relinquish after his fourth-round exit to Nick Kyrgios.

If both reach the final, the champion will go to number one.

In the city that never sleeps, Alcaraz completed a 6-4 3-6 6-4 4-6 6-3 win over Croatian Cilic at 02:23 local time, three minutes short of matching the latest finish in US Open history, shared jointly by three matches: Mats Wilander vs Mikael Pernfors (1993), John Isner v Philipp Kohlschreiber (2012), Kei Nishikori v Milos Raonic (2014).

The victory on Arthur Ashe Stadium made Alcaraz the youngest man to reach back-to-back US Open quarter-finals since Australians Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall both achieved the feat before turning 19 in 1953. It was called the US Championships in that era.

Alcaraz has won a tour-leading 48 matches in 2022 and has become the youngest man to reach three grand slam quarter-finals since Michael Chang over 30 years ago.

However, he next faces a player making his own history.

Alcaraz's quarter-final opponent is a recent nemesis: Jannik Sinner, the 21-year-old Italian who beat him in round four at Wimbledon and again in the final of the clay-court event in Umag, Croatia, at the end of July.

"I played a couple of times against him," Alcaraz said. "He's a great player, really tough one. I lost twice in two months [to him] so I will have to be ready for this battle against Jannik."

There is a victory that Alcaraz could point to, having defeated Sinner on an indoor hard court at the Paris Masters last November, but they have never played on an outdoor hard court, which is where they will do battle on Wednesday.

Sinner has now reached the quarter-final stage of all four majors, becoming the youngest man to pull off that feat since a 20-year-old Novak Djokovic completed the set in 2008.

The last-eight duel with Alcaraz could be a sizzling clash, albeit Alcaraz and Sinner had some recharging to do on Tuesday after both were pushed to five sets in round four, in Sinner's case by Ilya Ivashka of Belarus. Alcaraz now has a 6-1 win-loss record in five-set matches.

Nobody remaining in the men's quarter-finals has a slam title to their name, and Alcaraz will hope he continues to have the backing of the crowd in Queens.

He said after fending off Cilic: "Of course, the support today in Arthur Ashe was crazy. After losing the fourth set, it was tough for me to come back in the fifth set, to stay strong mentally. But the energy I received today made me win."

Australia's Nick Kyrgios has now won 15 of his past 16 matches after defeating compatriot Alex de Minaur 6-2 6-3 in the third round of the Canadian Open – with his only loss coming in the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic.

Fresh off his first singles title since 2019 when he won last week's Washington Open, Kyrgios collected his ninth consecutive victory in impressive fashion, showing no difficulty in navigating his first-ever matchup against his fellow countryman.

He won the first four games of the match, and snatched a break in the first game of the second set to book his quarter-final against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.

Hurkacz, the eighth seed, had to come back from a set down to defeat Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 7-6 (7-3). He struggled with his serve early, with four double faults in the opening frame, but cleaned it up as the match went on, double-faulting only once in the last two sets.

England's top hope Cameron Norrie suffered a disappointing 6-3 6-4 defeat at the hands of world number nine Felix Auger-Aliassime, but Daniel Evans and Jack Draper made it through to fly the flag.

Evans pulled off an upset win to beat 10th seed Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-5, and 20-year-old Draper was up a set when 17th seed Gael Monfils retired with an injury at 6-2 0-2.

American Tommy Paul claimed another scalp with his 6-4 6-2 victory against 13th seed Marin Cilic, giving him back-to-back wins against top-15 opponents after emerging triumphant against Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round.

In the final match of the day, Pablo Carreno-Busta beat his third top-30 opponent of the week with a 6-2 6-4 result against Italy's Jannik Sinner, following strong successes against Matteo Berrettini and Holger Rune.

Jannik Sinner scored his second big win over Carlos Alcaraz in July as he toppled the Spanish teenager in Sunday's Croatia Open final.

The 20-year-old Italian won his sixth career title on the ATP Tour and the first not on a hard court, beating Alcaraz 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-1 on clay at the Goran Ivanisevic Stadion in Umag.

Victory improved Sinner's win-loss record against Spanish players in 2022 to 8-0, and gave him a first trophy of the year. It was Alcaraz's 100th match of his career at ATP level but did not go according to his plan.

A victorious Sinner told Tennis TV: "I am obviously very happy. I come from a tough year until now. We had some unfortunate moments, but we worked every time to play better, to be a better player, to be a better person. So, I'm very happy to be finally lifting a trophy this year, but I know that I still have a lot of things to improve."

Alcaraz, who lost to Sinner's compatriot Lorenzo Musetti in last week's Hamburg European Open final, had six break points in the second game of the second set but failed to break through and fell away.

Sinner said: "He made some unforced errors, and I was very happy that I won this game. Then I returned well and raised my level a little bit, and I think I found a solution then."

Alcaraz was attempting to become the first player since Carlos Moya (2001-03) to win this title in consecutive years but fell short. He said he would have to "keep working hard to win tournaments" and hailed Sinner's "amazing level" over the week.

The 19-year-old will rise into the ATP top four for the first time on Monday but will be wary of Sinner currently having a hold over him.

Their Wimbledon match on July 3 went Sinner's way in four sets.

Small consolation for Alcaraz may have come in the fact he won a set, meaning he has done so in all 49 matches he has played this year, last losing in straight sets when he went down to Hugo Gaston at the Paris Masters last year.

Carlos Alcaraz's defence of his Croatian Open title will go down to the wire, with the Spaniard set to face Jannik Sinner in Sunday's final.

Alcaraz, the number one seed, defeated Giulio Zeppieri over three sets in Saturday's semi-final – securing his 42nd win of the year. That is the joint-most victories in 2022 on the men's tour alongside Stefanos Tsitsipas, and extends his record in Umag to 8-0.

The 7-5 4-6 6-3 win sees Alcaraz reach an ATP Tour-leading sixth final in 2022 and will lift him to fourth in the world rankings ahead of Tsitsipas – a career high for the 19-year-old.

"It's amazing to be in a final here again. I enjoy playing here in Umag and I'm really happy with the win today," Alcaraz said in an on-court interview.

Alcaraz will bring up his first century of ATP matches when he tackles Italian Sinner.

"It would be amazing in my 100th match to get the win, and of course it is amazing to be number four on Monday," Alcaraz said. "It's something great for me, but right now I am just focused on the final."

Sinner, who beat Alcaraz at Wimbledon to set up a quarter-final against Novak Djokovic, saw off compatriot Franco Agamenone 6-1 6-3 in Saturday's other semi-final.

The 20-year-old Sinner is looking for his first title of 2022, having won at Antwerp, Sofia, Washington and Melbourne last year. He has reached the quarter-finals in two of the three grand slams played so far this year.

Roberto Bautista Agut beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets to reach the Austrian Open final, but the Spaniard must wait until Saturday to discover his opponent.

Third seed Bautista Agut proved too strong for compatriot Ramos-Vinolas as he prevailed 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in a little over two hours, despite squandering three match points.

The world number 20 now can now look forward to a first clay-court final since suffering defeat to Matteo Berrettini at the 2018 Swiss Open Gstaad.

However, the other semi-final between Yannick Hanfmann and home wild card Filip Misolic was dramatically suspended in a third-set tie-break due to heavy rain.

Misolic, who had earlier beaten Dusan Lajovic in a clash delayed from Thursday, led 1-0 in the breaker against Hanfmann when play was halted and ultimately called off until Saturday.

The final between Bautista Agut and either Hanfmann or Misolic is still scheduled to go ahead as planned shortly after that second semi-final concludes.

At the Croatian Open, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz beat Facundo Bagnis 6-0 6-4 and will now face Giulio Zeppieri, who saw off Bernabe Zapata Miralles in straight sets.

Jannik Sinner is also through to his first semi-final of 2022 after beating Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4 7-6 (7-5), with Franco Agamenone up next after overcoming Marco Cecchinato.

Dominic Thiem battled his way into the quarter-finals of the Austrian Open at the expense of compatriot Sebastian Ofner on Wednesday.

Thiem reached his first semi-final since May 2021 at the Swiss Open last week and is looking to make further strides on home soil this week, having endured an injury nightmare.

The 2020 US Open champion made it through to the last eight in Kitzbuhel but had to dig deep for a 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory over qualifier Ofner.

Thiem only lost one point in the opening two games and wrapped up the first set in commanding fashion, but Ofner claimed the only break of the second set to force a decider.

The former world number three twice came from a break down in the final set to ensure he will face Yannick Hanfmann for a place in the semi-finals.

Seeds Aslan Karatsev and Joao Sousa bowed out, losing to Dusan Lajovic and Jiri Lehecka respectively.

Spanish trio Roberto Bautista Agut, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pedro Martinez advanced in straight sets.

Two of the top five seeds were knocked out of the Croatia Open, with Holger Rune and Alex Molcan falling in the round of 16.

Bernabe Zapata Miralles got the better of third seed Rune 3-6 6-3 6-2, while Roberto Carballes Baena ousted Molcan 3-6 6-2 6-3. Jannik Sinner and Giulio Zeppieri secured their quarter-final spots in Umag.

Dominic Thiem started his bid for a second Austrian Open title with a comfortable triumph over Alexander Shevchenko.

Thiem, a 2019 winner at the tournament in his home country, prevailed 6-4 6-2 in Kitzbuhel.

He will next face compatriot Sebastian Ofner as he seeks a first title since his grand slam breakthrough at the US Open in 2020.

Ofner came from a set down to beat former world number seven Richard Gasquet 1-6 7-5 7-5.

Meanwhile, seventh seed Pedro Martinez saved six out of six break points en route to a 7-6 6-3 victory over Chilean Nicolas Jarry.

At the Croatia Open in Umag, Bernabe Zapata Miralles set up a round of 16 meeting with third seed Holger Rune by beating Croatian Dino Prizmic, who retired when facing a 6-4 3-0 deficit.

Alex Molcan is safely through to the next round after defeating Duje Ajdukovic, while French 23-year-old Corentin Moutet cruised to a straight-sets victory over sixth seed Daniel Altmaier.

Novak Djokovic has slipped to seventh in the ATP Tour rankings despite winning Wimbledon, where ranking points were stripped in this year's tournament.

Players from Russia and Belarus were banned from competing at the third major of the year due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The ATP and WTA retaliated by stripping ranking points from the event at the All England Club, where the likes of world number one Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev did not feature.

Moscow-born Elena Rybakina, who switched to represent Kazakhstan four years ago, lifted the women's title in the singles competition, while Djokovic triumphed for a fourth straight time in the men's event.

Yet, Djokovic has lost 2,000 rankings points – the standard total awarded to a grand slam singles champion – after winning in SW19 last year, with no such rewards available on this occasion.

That meant the Serbian has dropped from third place to seventh, his lowest position since August 2018 when he fell to 10th.

Djokovic moved within just one major title of Rafael Nadal's record of 22 grand slams, and the Spaniard has jumped up one spot to third.

Medvedev and Alexander Zverev are unmoved as the respective top two after losing just 180 rankings points in the latest edition. Both missed Wimbledon, with the Russian banned and the German still injured.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz make up the top six after climbing a place each, while Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jannik Sinner are the trio behind Djokovic.

Nick Kyrgios appeared in his maiden major final against Djokovic at Wimbledon as world number 40, the lowest-ranked grand slam male finalist since Marcos Baghdatis (54) at the Australian Open in 2006.

Just a day later Kyrgios has dropped five places to 45th in the rankings, losing 90 points from his third-round berth last year. If the ban was not imposed, the Australian would have broken into the top 20.

Cameron Norrie is another loser from the ranking points fallout. His run to the semi-finals at the London major would have seen him climb to eighth, but instead he has to settle for 11th.

Novak Djokovic revealed "a little pep talk in the mirror" gave him the motivation to rescue his Wimbledon mission after Jannik Sinner threatened a monumental Centre Court upset.

Seeking a fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, and seventh in all, Djokovic fell two sets behind against 20-year-old Italian Sinner and left the court for a toilet break at the height of his crisis.

Djokovic returned recharged to win 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 for a 26th consecutive Wimbledon match win, reaching the semi-finals for an 11th time and later revealing what had occurred away from the public glare.

"I went out and had a little bit of refreshment, toilet break and a little pep talk in the mirror," said Djokovic.

That sparked laughter from the crowd, but Djokovic said: "It's actually true. Sometimes in these sort of circumstances where nothing is happening positively for you on court, and the other guy is dominating the play, sometimes these things are necessary: a little break and a little pep talk and try to recuperate and regather the thoughts, and reassemble everything that you have, and come at your opponent with the best possible game.

"I was fortunate to start the third set very well. I broke his serve early in the set and I think that has given me a confidence boost, and I saw a little bit of doubt in his game, in his movement, and I guess the experience of playing on this stage for many matches helped me a little bit to deal and cope with the pressure."

It was a third victory from two sets in arrears for Djokovic at Wimbledon, and a seventh overall in his grand slam career.

Djokovic described Sinner as "so mature for his age", adding: "He's got plenty of time, and it was unfortunate for him today, but he's had a very good tournament."

The defending champion said the first two sets and the final three felt like "two different matches", the change having been striking once Djokovic emerged from his talking-to in the mirror.

"I go through the same kind of doubtful moments as anybody else," said 35-year-old Djokovic, who is chasing a 21st grand slam title this fortnight.

"The inner fight is always the biggest fight you have to fight on the court, and so trying to win that internal fight is a big challenge.

"Once you do that, the external circumstances are more likely to go in your favour. I always believed I could turn the match around. I've done that quite a few times in grand slams, from being two sets to love down. Maybe it's the experience, maybe it's the toilet break, maybe it's everything combined, but I'm just glad I'm through.

"Every single time I step on this court the love affair keeps going and keeps growing, so hopefully I can maintain that run."

Novak Djokovic pulled off a great escape on Centre Court to deny Jannik Sinner in five sets and reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for an 11th time.

Djokovic won 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 in three hours and 35 minutes for his 26th consecutive Wimbledon match win, moving two steps away from a fourth successive title at the All England Club.

It gave him a 10th victory in the 11 five-set matches he has contested at Wimbledon, a fourth-round loss to Mario Ancic in 2006 the exception.

From 4-1 ahead in the second set, Djokovic's game went into sleep mode for an hour as his inspired Italian opponent stole a march, Sinner threatening to pull off a shock to follow up his outstanding fourth-round win over Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner was profiting from Djokovic's lethargic and erratic display, the crowd lending him their full support, which was no doubt jarring for Djokovic given his status as one of the tournament's greatest champions.

Djokovic gained a foothold in the contest by breaking to love to lead 3-1 in the third set, beckoning to the crowd to show him a little love in the next game.

From that point he never looked back. The tide was not so much turning but lapping urgently at the Sinner shoreline, threatening to wash away his challenge, and when he conceded a break in the third game of the deciding set the script was almost complete.

Sinner had rolled an ankle at the end of the fourth set but was quickly back to his feet, only to be mowed down by the relentless Serbian juggernaut on the other side of the net, a highlights-reel crosscourt backhand winner from Djokovic crowning the comeback as the winning line approached.

Data slam: Joining Jimmy as Djokovic survives

Djokovic has still not lost at Wimbledon since having to retire from a quarter-final against Tomas Berdych in 2017 due to an elbow injury. He has now matched Jimmy Connors' total of 84 match wins at Wimbledon, a total only beaten in men's singles by the 105 achieved by Roger Federer. The 11 Wimbledon semi-finals also put him level with Connors, with Federer's 13 the total to beat.

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Djokovic – 41/33
Sinner– 43/41

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Djokovic – 8/5
Sinner– 8/7

BREAK POINTS WON
Djokovic – 6/15
Sinner - 4/9

Jannik Sinner said his win over Carlos Alcaraz ranked among the highlights of his young career after reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals with an impressive 6-1 6-4 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 victory.

The 20-year-old Italian converted his sixth match point of an enthralling encounter on Centre Court to reach his third grand slam quarter-final.

The contest had been billed as a clash between two of the sport's future superstars, with their combined age the lowest in a fourth-round grand slam match since Juan Martin del Potro faced Kei Nishikori at the 2008 US Open.

At 19 years and 66 days old, Alcaraz had become the youngest male player to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon since 2011, and Sinner was keen to credit his opponent after a battle which lasted three hours and 35 minutes.

"First of all, Carlos is a very tough opponent and a very nice person, so it's always a huge pleasure for me to play against him," Sinner said.

"Today was such a great crowd and especially today, 100 years [since Centre Court opened]… it's just amazing.

"It's tough when you have match point and you still have to play. It's part of the game, part of tennis, and obviously I'm very happy with how I reacted.

"I'm very happy to be in the next round, and hopefully I can play some good tennis also in the next round."

Sinner, who boasts a 5-0 record against Spanish players in 2022, was asked where the triumph ranked among the best moments of his career.

He said: "In the top list, for sure. I didn't expect it because I was not playing so well on the grass.

"Then match after match I was better, I won my first grass-court match here in the first round, and now I'm here in the quarter-finals. I tried to adapt myself and the crowd helps me a lot."

Sinner had previously lost four fourth-round meetings with top-10 players at grand slams, being beaten by Alexander Zverev at the 2020 French Open and 2021 US Open, Rafael Nadal at the 2021 French Open, and Andrey Rublev at Roland Garros last month.

Sinner also improved his 2022 record against top-10 opponents to 2-5 with the victory, with his only previous win coming against Rublev at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Daniil Medvedev eventually mastered the windy conditions as he came from behind to keep his Mallorca Championships defence alive, but Jannik Sinner and Diego Schwartzman crashed out in Eastbourne. 

World number one Medvedev fought back from a set down to defeat Aslan Karatsev 3-6 6-4 6-2 and advance to a quarter-final against fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who was granted a walkover after Nick Kyrgios pulled out with an abdominal issue. 

The Russian got just 48 per cent of his first serves in during a blustery opening set before improving to 68 per cent in the second and controlling the decider as Karatsev struggled with injury. 

"It was tough to play [in] rhythm. It felt like many points were just whoever managed to put the ball in the court was going to win the point," Medvedev said of the tricky conditions. 

"It was not easy but I'm happy to win because that's the most important [thing]. 

"Last year was amazing. I played great tennis. Hopefully I can do the same this year. I like it here in Mallorca, so hopefully I can stay as long as possible in the tournament." 

Alongside Medvedev and Bautista Agut, Stefanos Tsitsipas is the only other seed left in the draw after he overcame Ilya Ivashka 6-4 6-4. 

Denis Shapovalov was a 6-4 6-1 loser against Benjamin Bonzi, Pablo Carreno Busta went down 6-3 6-4 to Antoine Bellier and Sebastian Baez's meeting with Daniel Altmaier ended in a 6-2 2-6 6-4 defeat for the Argentine. 

At the Eastbourne International, second seed Sinner suffered a 6-3 3-6 6-3 loss to Tommy Paul as he made his return from a knee injury sustained at the French Open.

World number 13 Sinner remains without a grass-court win in his ATP Tour career, while Paul will next face defending champion Alex de Minaur, who overcame Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 in a repeat of last year's final. 

Jack Draper defeated fourth seed Diego Schwartzman 7-5 7-6 (7-3) to advance to the quarter-finals and Cameron Norrie cruised past Brandon Nakashima in straight sets.

There were also wins for Maxime Cressy, Alexander Bublik and Taylor Fritz.