Tennis-Last US Open champion standing Medvedev moves past Cobolli

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev breezed past Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-3 6-4 6-3 and into the fourth round on a muggy Saturday night at the U.S. Open as the 2021 champion stepped up his bid to capture a second Grand Slam title.

The Russian, who is the only former New York champion left in the men's draw following the stunning exits of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in the first week, was pleased to avoid the U.S. Open trapdoor.

"I said before the match that for me the upsets don't really matter. The only thing (is when) the conditions are a bit tricky the favourites maybe have less margin than the other guys. Just have to be more cautious," said Medvedev.

"If I play good tennis I can win the whole thing. If I don't play good I can lose against anyone."

Medvedev told reporters later that he did not expect to be in the position he was in heading to the fourth round.

"It's a fun feeling from one side but from the other side it's a new tournament," Medvedev added.

"I need to play my best to try to win it again."

In a clash marked by long, exhausting rallies, Cobolli tested Medvedev's defence thoroughly but could not find a way past the man nicknamed the "Octopus" for his ability to move freely on court and reach every ball.

Having taken the opening set on the back of two breaks after dropping serve early, Australian Open runner-up Medvedev edged a close second set to tighten his grip on the contest.

Both players struggled on serve in the third set and handed out breaks freely but Medvedev composed himself to close out the victory and book a clash with Portuguese Nuno Borges.

"It was a tough match. It was a little bit up and down," Medvedev said. "And at one moment I started playing much better on my serve than on his.

"It was tricky. Very humid, very hot out there. I think it makes the conditions a bit slower because I was watching other matches before mine... it was a fun match to play."

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Michael Perry)