American Frances Tiafoe stunned Rafael Nadal to hand the 22-time major champion his first grand slam defeat of the season in the fourth round of the US Open.
Nadal was looking for his third slam title of the year after winning the Australian Open and French Open but he was overpowered by Tiafoe in a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory.
No American man has won a grand slam title since Andy Roddick at Flushing Meadows in 2003, by far their longest drought in tennis history.
Now Tiafoe, the 24-year-old son of immigrants from Sierra Leone who slept in the office of a tennis centre in Maryland as a child where his father was the caretaker, is right in the mix in a tournament that has been blown wide open by defeats for defending champion Daniil Medvedev and now Nadal.
Nadal gave a blunt assessment of his performance on Arthur Ashe Stadium, saying: "The difference is easy: I played a bad match and he played a good match.
"I was not able to hold a high level of tennis for a long time. I was not quick enough in my movements. He was able to take the ball too many times very early, so I was not able to push him back.
"Tennis is a sport of position a lot of times. If not, you need to be very, very quick and very young. I am not in that moment any more. Well done for him. He was better than me."
Rainy weather could not dampen Russian Andrey Rublev's sublime form as he rolled past Britain's Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals for the third time.
The ninth seed sent over 11 aces and had fewer than half the unforced errors his opponent did in a brisk affair that was surely a reprieve after Rublev endured two five-set battles in the earlier rounds.
With 24-year-old Rublev up a break in the second set, rain forced a considerable delay as Louis Armstrong Stadium's retractable roof slowly slid into place and workers mopped up the court before the eighth game.
Roland-Garros quarter-finalist Rublev was unfazed, dropping only two of his first serve points in the third set and getting the critical break over the seventh seed in the ninth game with an exquisitely placed backhand winner.
On the hunt for a maiden major title, Rublev's recent hardcourt performances painted an inconsistent picture, as he crashed out of his Montreal opener to Dan Evans and lost in the third round at Cincinnati.
But he appeared to be fully in command of his game on New York's famed blue courts on Monday, with Tiafoe waiting in the next round.
"I played a good match," Rublev said in an on-court interview. "This is the US Open, this is a grand slam, everyone is nervous, everyone is tight."
Jannik Sinner rallied from 3-1 down in the fifth set to beat Ilya Ivashka 6-1 5-7 6-2 4-6 6-3 and reach the quarter-finals.
Sinner's sublime drop-shot winner broke world number 73 Ivashka for a 4-3 lead in the decider and the Italian went on to seal the victory when the Belarusian's forehand sailed long on match point.
Sinner, seeded 11th, said the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium had helped get him across the finish line.
"The atmosphere is always very great, especially when I'm down," he said afterwards. "Thanks to you guys for keeping my head up because today I was struggling. I was not playing my best and in the fifth set I tried to dig deep.
"I'm very happy to be in the next round."
Sinner will play another rising star in the next round in the form of Carlos Alcaraz.
The young Spaniard, who remains in contention to land the number one ranking, completed a 6-4 3-6 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic.
The result means there is guaranteed to be a new major champion in New York.
