Sinner, Swiatek survive US Open scares as Osaka-Gauff showdown looms

Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek proved they are only human at the U.S. Open on Saturday, showing that even the world's best players sometimes have to work things out on the fly when pure talent is not enough.

Wimbledon champion Swiatek embodied the day's theme of triumph through adversity, clawing her way back from 5-1 down in the opening set against Anna Kalinskaya before grinding out a 7-6(2) 6-4 victory.

"I'm happy that I came back and kept ... figuring out and problem-solving," Swiatek said. "For sure, it wasn't an easy match."

The Pole was far from her sharpest in a scrappy, error-strewn contest. Nine breaks and 67 unforced errors by both players combined painted the picture of a match won through sheer bloody-mindedness, rather than sublime shot-making.

Yet Swiatek steadied herself at the key moments, saving four set points in the first set and breaking late in the second to notch her 20th major match win of the season and draw level with defending champion and world number one Aryna Sabalenka.

"It's not easy sometimes to find the solutions and to find the exact thing that will help you," she added.

"You need to have your mind open enough to think about what you can do. Today was a pretty good day, I'd say, in terms of that, because, you know, at 5-1 or something, it's easy to panic, and I didn't."

Her reward is a last-16 meeting with 13th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

World number one Sinner showed similar resolve, surrendering the opening set to 27th seed Denis Shapovalov before rallying to prevail 5-7 6-4 6-3 6-3.

The victory extended the 24-year-old Italian's unbeaten run at hardcourt Grand Slams to 24 matches, a streak built not just on talent but on his ability to problem-solve when his best tennis abandons him.

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