Tunisian fifth seed Ons Jabeur dug herself out of a hole in the first set to defeat Russian Veronika Kudermetova 7-6(1), 6-4 to book her spot in the US Open quarter finals for the first time. Jabeur found herself trailing 5-2 as the 18th-seeded Kudermetova made a fast start with pinpoint backhand that ran the Wimbledon runner-up ragged.

But the 28-year-old managed to find her range to start dominating the baseline rallies and after levelling things at 5-5 she dictated terms in the tie-breaker to take the frame. Jabeur had to dig deep again to hold serve at the start of the second set but then got the crucial break in the fourth game to nose ahead.

With Jabeur serving for the match, however, Kudermetova got the break back, but the Tunisian breached the Russian’s delivery in the next game to close out the contest. “It was a very difficult match,” Jabeur, who will next meet unseeded Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, said in her on-court interview. Tomljanovic backed up her win over Serena Williams with a 7-6(8), 6-1 triumph over Russian Liudmila Samsonova.

‘Insane’ feeling

American teenager Coco Gauff used her superior speed to overcome a second-set deficit and pull off a thrilling 7-5, 7-5 win over China’s Zhang Shuai to reach the quarter finals of the US Open for the first time. “It feels insane,” Gauff said after sealing the win to set up a showdown with in-form Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia on Tuesday. Garcia is beginning to believe “good things can happenagain” in New York, after clawing her way out of a career slump to reach her first-ever US Open quarter-final by defeating American Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-4, 6-1.

Rublev on song

Rainy weather could not dampen Russian Andrey Rublev’s sublime form as he rolled past Briton Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Monday. The ninth seed sent over11 aces and had fewer than half the unforced errors his opponent did in a brisk affair. Italian Matteo Berrettini won a marathon battle with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 on Sunday after the Spaniard suffered an injury in the final set. He next faces Norwegian fifth seed Casper Ruud, who ended lucky loser Corentin Moutet’s fairytale run 6-1, 6-2,6-7(4), 6-2. Ruud leads Berrettini 3-2 head-to-head.