NEW YORK (Reuters) – Italian sixth seed Matteo Berrettini survived a third-round test from Ilya Ivashka to win 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-3, firing off 27 aces in front of an adoring Grandstand crowd on Saturday.
A handful of unforced errors cost the first-set tiebreak for the Wimbledon runner-up, who got the break in the fourth game of the second set and fired 21 winners to plow through the third.
Berrettini put up a strong defensive performance in the fourth, saving six of eight break points, but the Belarusian converted when it counted as the Italian struggled at the baseline.
The crowd chanted “Matteo!” as he began serving for the match and the 25-year-old pumped his fist and let out a roar after clinching the contest to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the third year in a row.
He next faces German qualifier Oscar Otte.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
