US Open 2019: 5 best men's matches from this year's tournament

#4 Third round: Daniil Medvedev beats Feliciano Lopez 7-6(1) 4-6 7-6(7) 6-4

Medvedev battles a partisan crowd and Lopez to move into the fourth-round

In a late-night thriller under the New York lights, young Daniil Medvedev met Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez for the first time in a Grand Slam match. The pair's lone previous meeting on tour had gone the Spaniard's way in a first-round match at the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters.

It was Lopez's 10th third-round match at the US Open, compared to Medvedev's second.

The gulf in pedigree between the two players was apparent in the initial exchanges as Lopez rode an early break and served for the first set at 5-3. But Medvedev broke back and took the set in a tiebreak.

Stung by the loss of the first set which was on his racquet, Lopez responded by grabbing an early break in the second and breezing through the set in 38 minutes to restore parity.

Feliciano Lopez

The third set was a closer affair where both players firmly held serve. After seeing a set point of his own come and go in the ensuing tiebreak, a lunging volley from Lopez to save a set point brought the crowd to their feet. However, two points later it was Medvedev who took a two sets to one lead.

An immaculate baseline-to-baseline lob in the fifth game of the fourth set sealed a break for the Russian. He went on to beat the crowd favourite Lopez in a three-hour 19-minute tussle which drew to a close on the stroke of midnight.

Lopez's 85 net approaches (won 60) greatly entertained the New York faithful. On another day the Spaniard could have run out a straight-sets victor, but it was Medvedev who lived to fight another day.