US Open: Rafael Nadal breezes into fourth round; Andrey Rublev survives five-set epic, plays Cameron Norrie next

Rafael Nadal's pursuit of a third Grand Slam title of the year and 23rd of his illustrious career continued as he swept aside Richard Gasquet in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the US Open.

The Spaniard - who won the Australian and French Open earlier this year before withdrawing from Wimbledon ahead of his semi-final against Nick Kyrgios - beat Gasquet 6-0 6-1 7-5 at Flushing Meadows to extend his career record against the Frenchman to 18-0.

Nadal will now face America's Frances Tiafoe, who defeated Argentina's Diego Schwartzman 7-6 6-4 6-4 in their third-round meeting in New York.

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Nadal is looking to win his fifth US Open title, having previously triumphed in 2012, 2012, 2017 and in his previous appearance at the tournament in 2019.

The 36-year-old is joined in the last 16 by fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, with the teenager defeating American prospect Jenson Brooksby 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Alcaraz will face Marin Cilic next after the 2014 US Open champion defeated Briton Dan Evans, while Andrey Rublev booked a meeting with Britain's Cameron Norrie after beating Denis Shapovalov in a final set tiebreak.

Nadal extends dominant record against Gasquet

Gasquet has not won a set against Nadal since 2008 and it took him a long time to even win a game in this contest, finally getting on the board after tumbling 6-0 3-0 down.

The Frenchman put up more of a fight in the third set but ultimately lost a 34th consecutive set against Nadal.

Nadal's routine victory was in contrast to his first two matches, in which he lost the first set to both Australia's Rinky Hijikata and Italy's Fabio Fognini.

Nadal said afterwards: "Three matches already, I increased a little bit the level today so that's important for me, I think. I'm happy for that against a very good friend like Richard.

"Tiafoe is a great player, he is very charismatic, very fast, so I need to keep improving, keep playing better and better to have chances to go through.

"Hopefully a victory like today helps me to grow. I'm happy to be in the fourth round and I hope to give myself a good chance to keep going."

Rublev beats Shapovalov in classic clash

Rublev now stands in the way of Norrie - who saw off Denmark's Holger Rune in straight sets earlier on Saturday - making the US Open quarter-finals for the first time.

The ninth seed pipped Shapovalov, who is seeded 19 in New York, in a classic on Grandstand court, wining 6-4 2-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 7-6 (10-7).

Rublev served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set but was then broken back by the Canadian, who saved a number of match points.

Rublev eventually converted his fifth match point in the tiebreak to settle an absorbing contest.

Elsewhere, Belarus' Ilya Ivaskha dumped out Italian 26th seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 3-6 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with another Italian, 11th seed Jannik Sinner.

Sinner recovered from losing the first set to America's Brandon Nakashima before winning 3-6 6-4 6-1 6-2.

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