…beaten in five sets by young Frenchman Lucas Pouille

RAFAEL Nadal suffered an upset in the last-16 of the US Open as Frenchman Lucas Pouille inflicted yet more Grand Slam woe on the Spaniard in a five-set thriller.Nadal has not won a major title since winning his fourteenth at Roland Garros in 2014 and the wait goes on after he was beaten 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) by No 24 seed Pouille in four hours and two minutes.
It sets up an all-French clash between Pouille and Gael Monfils, as they join Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to make this the first time since Roland Garros 1947 that three Frenchmen have reached the last-eight of a Grand Slam.
Pouille said: ‘It’s my first match on the centre court here against Rafa. I couldn’t dream better than this.’
Pouille may still not be well-known among the more casual tennis fans but the 22-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the rankings this year from a position of No 91 in mid-February and reached the last-eight at Wimbledon.
After missing much of this summer with a wrist injury, Nadal had made an impressive start to his Flushing Meadows campaign, progressing to the fourth round without dropping a set.
But it took just 28 minutes for Pouille to take the opening set for the loss of just one game, Nadal struggling to make any impact on his French opponent’s serve.

Nadal hit back to level the match at one set all but Pouille was unperturbed as he remained aggressive and pinned Nadal behind the baseline before serving out the third set.
After exchanging breaks midway through the fourth set, Nadal edged ahead again for 5-3 and then swatted away a forehand winner to take the match to a fifth set, only the fourth he has played since Roland Garros 2013.
At a break down, Pouille initially appeared to be showing effects of a already playing two consecutive five-set matches to reach this stage but he continued to battle hard and broke back for 4-4 as Nadal sent a forehand long.

With the crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium in raptures, the match came down to a deciding tiebreak. Pouille had three match points at 6-3 but hit a wild forehand long on the last as Nadal saved them all to level at 6-6.
Pouille was gifted a fourth match point as Nadal dumped an approach forehand into the net and this time he took it with a stunning forehand winner down the line.
Pouille said: ‘It’s just never over until the last point. I was a break down in the fifth set, I came back.
‘At 6-3 [in the tiebreak] I was like, “OK, you’re going to win this one”, then at 6-6 it was not the same. Honestly I’m very happy.'(Mail on Line)