US Open: Cameron Norrie comes through with flying colours to reach fourth round but Dan Evans is knocked out

British No 1 Cameron Norrie came through in straight sets against young Dane Holger Rune to make the last 16 of the US Open for the first time, while Dan Evans' run came to an end with a four-set defeat by former champion Marin Cilic.

Norrie and 19-year-old Rune had already met twice this season, with the Brit winning on both occasions in close contests, but there was clear daylight between the pair at Flushing Meadows on Saturday with the seventh seed running away to record a comfortable 7-5 6-4 6-1 win.

"Holger is not easy to play. He can go through patches when he's passive and then he can hit very aggressively so you have to be ready for anything," Norrie told Prime Video. "He has great hands and defends really well at times, but I stayed a lot calmer than he did throughout the big moments.

"I feel great. Sometimes you start a little bit tight and you play guys who are not great match-ups for you and you're nervous.

"You get through those ones and you have a lot confidence, feeling the courts a bit better, and then you get put on a stadium court and you feel a little bit more rhythm and you play your way into the tournament. It was good."

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It's a bit annoying. I'm not controlling the rules but I think you can do it a couple of times but doing it 10, 15 times is maybe too much.

Rune, already the highest-ranked Danish man in history and a French Open quarter-finalist this year, accused Norrie of gamesmanship when he protested to the umpire about the Briton catching his ball toss before serving during the second set.

Players are allowed 25 seconds between points but the clock stops when the server throws up the ball, meaning catching the toss buys extra time to reset.

Rune made it clear to the umpire he thought Norrie was deliberately exploiting a loophole in the rules but his protests fell on deaf ears and he was more diplomatic in the press room later.

"I think it's a fine balance," said the teenager. "You have those 25 seconds and the umpire accepts that if you're at one second and you do it you can let it go and take five, 10 seconds to bounce it again and then serve, and then you all of a sudden have 10 seconds.

"It's a bit annoying. I'm not controlling the rules but I think you can do it a couple of times but doing it 10, 15 times is maybe too much."

Responding, Norrie said: "I'm not doing it on purpose. I'd love to go out there and have a perfect ball toss every time and get up there and hit rockets. It can happen sometimes. I'd rather play quick. I like to play quick."

Norrie opened up a 5-3 lead in the first set but hit a wild double fault and then shanked a smash to drop serve, only for Rune to play a similarly poor game and give him a second chance.

The British No 1 looked to have taken control of the second set at 4-1 but Rune was able to apply some late pressure again, forcing Norrie to save two break points at 5-4.

The Dane complained to the umpire about Norrie's ball toss during that game before continuing his protests at the end of the set.

Rune could offer no real resistance in the third with Norrie able to ease to victory and set up a meeting with Andrey Rublev on Monday.

Cilic ends Evans' run in New York

Evans' US Open run came to an end with a four-set defeat by 2014 champion Cilic in the third round.

He went into his contest as a slight underdog but took confidence from having won their only previous meeting, albeit five years ago at the Australian Open.

Evans had also been hoping to match last year's string of performances at Flushing Meadows when he reached the last 16, but he came out on the losing side of a near four-hour tussle on Court 17, going down 7-6 (13-11) 6-7 (7-3) 6-2 7-5.

The British No 2 will rue the three set points he missed in the first-set tie-break, with Cilic just proving the stronger at the big moments.

It is now eight years since Cilic won the title here, and he is in the latter stages of his career, but he has been in good form this season, particularly in a run to the semi-finals of the French Open.

Evans was having to work hard to stay on level terms and he saved two set points to send the opener to a tie-break.

He then created three chances to win the set but could not take any of them, double faulting on the third.

Cilic was showing nerves too, but on his fifth chance he finally clinched a set that lasted an hour and 22 minutes.

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The Croatian looked to be on his way to a two-set lead when he broke his opponent again to lead 6-5 but Evans is a supreme fighter and he hit back to force another tie-break, which this time he took.

Cilic reset himself well at the start of the third, using his greater power to gain the upper hand again, and Evans was staring down the barrel in the fourth.

He saved a match point brilliantly at 4-5 with a backhand down the line but three more arrived in his next service game and this time Cilic was not to be denied.

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