Former world number one Daniil Medvedev has taken down Alex de Minaur in four sets to prevent the Australian 13th seed from making back-to-back quarterfinals at the US Open.

De Minaur won the first set in dominant fashion before 2021 champion Medvedev found his best form of the tournament to race to a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 fourth-round win.

Hot and humid conditions saw both players tire and take comfort breaks between sets, with Medvedev fearing at one point that he would not be able to continue.

"At one moment I thought I'm not going to be able to play to the end," he said.

But the third seed said seeing de Minaur, who is renowned for his fitness and ability to play long matches, also struggling gave him a boost as he clawed his way back into the match before running through the finish line.

De Minaur's loss leaves Australia without any players in the men's or women's singles draws, while Medvedev moves into an all-Russian quarterfinal against eighth seed Andrey Rublev.

Medvedev held a 4-2 advantage in the head-to-head match-ups going into the match but de Minaur had won the past two clashes — a quarterfinal at the Toronto Masters a month ago and a three-set win at the Paris Masters in November.

And the recent form held true early in the match at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

In a battle between two of the sport's great counter-punchers, de Minaur got to the net to win his first point on serve and did so again later in the game, but it was immediately clear long games and rallies would be the order of the day.

His volleying skill gave him the first break point of the match in the following game, but Medvedev got himself out of trouble and held with an ace.

At 2-2, de Minaur handed Medvedev just his fifth break of the tournament, held serve quickly and broke Medvedev again to reach 5-2, rapidly holding serve to love as his opponent looked resigned to dropping the opening frame.

Medvedev, who had called for the trainer to receive a couple of pulls on an inhaler of some sort at 2-2, left the court for a lengthy comfort break between sets and came out the fresher to start the second.

The gritty Russian threatened to get back on the front foot with a break in the fourth game of the set, but de Minaur made it back to deuce and saved three more break points, including one with his first ace of the match, before holding serve with another volley winner.

But both his serve and volley betrayed him at an inopportune moment while serving to stay in the second set, sending down his first double fault and missing a forehand at the net to allow Medvedev to break to take it 6-4.

De Minaur followed his opponent's lead and left the court in between sets as the clock approached an hour-and-a-half on court.

Another double fault helped Medvedev get the first break of the third set to reach 3-1, and he carried on from there, breaking once more en route to a two-sets-to-one lead.

But Medvedev's dominance in serving out the set for 6-1, meant de Minaur had the advantage of serving first to start the next frame, meaning he would not have to play from behind when things were on serve.