WHAT HAPPENED: Tommy Paul cut short a late-night, late-match surge by Lorenzo Sonego to advance to the 2024 US Open second round with a Tuesday win in Louis Armstrong Stadium. The American dominated early and appeared headed for a straight-sets cruise, but Winston-Salem champ Sonego made the home favorite fight through four sets for a 6-4, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory.
Paul took the first two sets without dropping serve, saving all four break points against him, and led 4-2 in the third behind an early break. But Sonego caught fire to extend the match, putting Paul on the back foot as he found the mark with aggressive baseline cuts.
After Sonego broke to clinch the fourth set, Paul snapped back with an instant break to reassert himself in Armstrong. The 14th seed pressed home his advantage this time, extending his lead to sap the drama from the first-round encounter.
Both men created plenty of break chances in the match, but Paul's clutch tennis saw him erase 11 of Sonego's 13 opportunities. Critically, the American was an efficient six-of-10 on his own break points.
WHAT IT MEANS: Paul progressed to the US Open second round for the third straight year, after suffering first-round defeats in each of his first four New York appearances. His best US Open result was a fourth-round run last year, which came after his first Grand Slam semifinal run at the 2023 Australian Open. This season, he reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time.
The American also improved to 2-1 in his head-to-head against Sonego, after the pair split 2021 meetings in Cincinnati (Sonego) and Rotterdam (Paul). Paul also lifted his record to 6-1 against Italians in 2024, with his lone loss coming to Flavio Cobolli in the Cincinnati first round two weeks ago.
Sonego saw his four-match winning streak snapped after he won the Winston-Salem title without conceding a set.
MATCH POINT: Paul made his tour-level debut at the 2015 US Open, when he qualified as an 18-year-old ranked world No. 437. Later that same fortnight, he reached the boys' singles final, losing to countryman Taylor Fritz.
