With an abundance of confidence, the Sydney-born player navigated through the first set, saving five break points before breaking at 4–4 and serving it out.
As Djokovic kept making mistakes, he looked even better in the second set, moving through the motions calmly and winning 88% of the points on his first serve.
At last, the 24-time major champion came to life at the start of the third set, taking the first three games before a mistake gave Popyrin the opportunity to break back.
To keep his title defence alive, Djokovic broke for the third time and quickly regained his advantage, demanding more noise from the boisterous Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
In order to surpass Margaret Court and assume sole possession of the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles, Djokovic was aiming to win a fifth US Open.
The two went back and forth in the fourth set, but in the fifth game, Popyrin converted his fourth break point to put Djokovic in serious trouble.
In his subsequent service game, he remained strong as well, saving two break points, until a string of double faults and thoughtless mistakes from the usually composed Djokovic brought the 28th seed dangerously close to winning.
Popyrin attempted to serve out the match with a double break in front of him, but he was less successful the second time, hitting three huge serves before Djokovic pushed the first match point long.
“It is incredible because in my career, I have made it to the third round roughly fifteen times, but I have never made it to the fourth round,” Popyrin remarked.
“It is amazing that I was able to advance to the fourth round by defeating the greatest player of all time; it feels like all of my hard work has paid off.”
