Lucas Pouille of France ,seeded 4th, upset Rafael Nadal in the U.S. Open’s fourth round 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) on Sunday, prolonging the 14-time Grand Slam title winner’s quarter-final drought at major tournaments.
The No. 4-seeded Nadal, a two-time champion at Flushing Meadows, breezed through his opening three matches in Week 1 at the hard-court tournament, dropping only 20 games combined. But Pouille, a 22-year-old with flashy strokes, presented a much sterner challenge in the fourth round, pushing Nadal to the limit over 4 hours, 7 minutes of tense — and intense — exchanges.
Nadal led by a break at 1-0 and 4-2 in the fifth set, but Pouille broke back to 4-all, and eventually converted his fourth match point in the tiebreaker with a gutsy forehand winner to close a 16-stroke exchange.
This was Pouille’s third career victory in a five-setter — and all have come in his past three matches.
“I couldn’t dream better than this,” he said in an on-court interview after his forehand winner ended the marathon on his fourth match point.
