Novak Djokovic continued his hunt for a record 25th Grand Slam title by quickly recovering from a lower back problem to beat unseeded Briton Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-7(4) 6-2 6-3 and reach the fourth round of the US Open.

That puts the Serb on track to meet Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals after the Spaniard surged into the fourth round on Friday, when American hopes of ending the country's 22-year wait for a men's champion suffered a blow with the exits of Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.

Djokovic, 38, began to feel the effects of a back issue after going up 5-4 and received treatment off the court before returning to serve out the opening set. He called for more medical attention three games into the next set and his first-serve speed briefly dipped following that break in play.

However, he started to fire on all cylinders again and went toe to toe with Norrie, who had to fight back from a two-point deficit early in the tiebreak to go level in the match, before the Serb closed out the match comfortably, fully hitting his stride in the fourth to maintain his 100 percent record against Norrie and book a meeting with Jan-Lennard Struff.

Spanish second seed Alcaraz breezed past Italian 32nd seed Luciano Darderi in emphatic fashion, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Alcaraz's one hour 44-minute victory sends the 2022 US Open champion into a meeting on Sunday against France's Arthur Rinderknech, who defeated compatriot Benjamin Bonzi 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

The five-time Grand Slam singles champion admitted he had been nervous about his 11.30am local time start.

"I'm not an early morning person so it's difficult for me," Alcaraz said. "One of the good things today though I woke up early, did the warm up and felt good... I played great tennis, good performance so I'm proud of that."

Alcaraz needed a medical timeout while leading 5-4 in the second set for treatment on his right knee, but later said he had no injury concerns.

But while Alcaraz was able to shrug off his knee issue, a shoulder injury scuppered Shelton's hopes of becoming the first American man to win the US Open since Andy Roddick in 2003.

The big-serving Shelton, a semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2023, departed the Louis Armstrong Stadium court in tears after being forced to retire at the end of the fourth set of his match against French veteran Adrian Mannarino.

Shelton, 22, was leading 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 but clutched his shoulder in pain early in the fourth set and called a medical timeout. He recovered but retired after Mannarino took the fourth set. "I'm not a guy who would retire if I could continue," said a dejected Shelton.

Shelton's exit was followed by compatriot Tiafoe, the 17th seed who lost 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) to German veteran Jan-Lennard Struff. "I don't know how to recover from this, to be honest with you," Tiafoe said. "I haven't been this down in a very, very long time."

In other men's draw action, Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka sailed into the next round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Belgium's Raphael Collignon and Taylor Fritz overcame plucky Swiss qualifier Jerome Kym in four sets in the night session, advancing 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (9/11), 6-4, 6-4.. (AFP/Reuters)
Last updated: 2025-08-30 HKT 15:27