US Open 5th seed Anderson subdues Shapovalov in five
South Africa's 2017 finalist Kevin Anderson outlasted Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on Friday in a third-round match that saw the new Louis Armstrong Stadium roof closed for the first time at the US Open.
Anderson, unable to convert four match points against Shapovalov's serve in the penultimate game, served it out with a love game of four unreturnable serves.
The fifth seed, runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, next faces ninth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem, who didn't have the luxury of a roof in a 3-6, 6-3, -6 (7/5), 6-4 victory over American Taylor Fritz on Grandstand.
Thiem was about to serve for the match when light rain halted play for 20 minutes at 5-3 in the fourth.
When play resumed he served three double faults to get broken before finishing off the match in the next game.