World No. 19 Pablo Carreño Busta is the first player into the US Open quarterfinals, defeating Canadian teen Denis Shapovalov, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, in the first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Here are five fast facts about the 26-year-old:
- The Spaniard was already into the fourth round of the US Open for the first time. He reached the third round in New York in 2014 and 2016 either side of a second-round, five-set loss to fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in 2015.
- Carreño Busta has three career singles titles. He picked up a pair of hard-court titles in Winston-Salem and Moscow in 2016, and he won a clay-court championship in Estoril, Portugal, in May when he beat world No. 28 Gilles Muller in straight sets in the final.
- The 26-year-old Barcelona native recorded his best-ever Grand Slam performance at Roland Garros earlier this summer when he defeated No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov and fifth-seeded Milos Raonic on his path to the quarters. But his tournament was cut short in the quarters when he was forced to retire in the second set against eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
- Carreño Busta's career is on an upward trajectory. He first broke into the Top 100 in August 2013, cracked the Top 50 by the end of 2014, finished 2016 in the Top 30 and reached a career-high of No. 15 in July this year.
- What makes Carreño Busta's climb even more impressive is that he missed most of 2012 after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disk and slipped to No. 715 in the world. After not picking up a racquet for seven months, he climbed 650 positions the following season and was named the most improved player of the year by his fellow ATP pros.
