Arthur Gea’s run at the US Open ended when he surrendered match point and fell in a five-set, five-hour and 13-minute fourth-round match to Botic van de Zandschulp. Van de Zandschulp came back from deep trouble to win 3-6 6-7 (0-7) 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, in what became the fourth longest match on record at Flushing Meadows.
The Story in Pictures
Gea, 22, reached match point in the third-set tiebreak but could not close the match, and then dropped the fourth set in another tiebreak before van de Zandschulp completed the recovery. After the win the Dutchman described it as a "crazy comeback" and said he had "no clue" how he managed it.
Ranked world number 87, Gea began the tournament in qualifying. He was seeded first in qualifying but lost the final qualifying round to American Nishesh Basavareddy, then entered the main draw as a lucky loser when 2022 finalist Casper Ruud withdrew injured on the eve of the tournament. Gea parlayed that second chance into victories over Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Zachary Svajda and Michael Zheng to reach the last 16.
The run still brings a major financial jump: Gea will leave New York with $480,000, a substantial increase from the $66,000 he had expected as a qualifier. Van de Zandschulp’s reward for surviving the fourth-round epic is a quarter-final meeting with German top seed Alexander Zverev, who earlier advanced with a 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-3) win over 21st seed Luciano Darderi.
After his victory Zverev joked, "I don't know what to do with myself because it's before midnight - I might go back to the practice courts or go to a bar," and added, "I will request the night match for sure. I've rented this court out from 11pm until 2am for two weeks so I hope they will continue putting me on at [night] time."
The last-eight lineup also includes Belgium's Alexander Blockx, who battled rib pain to beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3 4-6 7-5 7-5 and becomes the first Belgian man to reach a New York quarter-final. "It was really tough from the beginning of the match. I was struggling a lot, especially while serving. It kept getting worse throughout the match," Blockx said. Presuming he is fit, Blockx will face Russian world number 50 Karen Khachanov, who recovered to beat Learner Tien in five sets.
Van de Zandschulp moves on to the last eight, Gea's unexpected run ends, and the US Open quarter-finals now shape up to pit the resurgent Dutchman against the tournament's top-seeded German.
