Federer Reaches Quarters; Fish Loss Leaves One U.S. Man in Open
Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts
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Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts during his match against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open in New York.
Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts during his match against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open in New York. Photographer: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland celebrates
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland celebrates match point against Andy Murray of Great Britain during the men's singles match on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open in New York.
Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland celebrates match point against Andy Murray of Great Britain during the men's singles match on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open in New York. Photographer: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates
Nick Laham/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after defeating Gilles Simon of France during the men's singles match on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open in New York.
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after defeating Gilles Simon of France during the men's singles match on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open in New York. Photographer: Nick Laham/Getty Images
Even Roger Federer needs a little luck sometimes. The 16-time Grand Slam champion got a break at the U.S. Open while rolling into his 26th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The second-seeded Swiss, a five-time U.S. Open champion, defeated Jurgen Melzer in straight sets last night to move on to a quarterfinal showdown with Robin Soderling -- who beat Federer in this year’s French Open quarterfinals.
“I expect it to be really tough, especially now that he’s gotten a taste of how to beat me,” the 29-year-old Federer said in a news conference.
Federer, who had 10 aces in his 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory against 13th-seeded Austrian Melzer, lucked out when his service return midway through the second-set tiebreaker hit the net and trickled over. The score was tied 4-4 when Federer won that point, giving him a chance to wrap up the set with two serves, which he did, yelling “Come on!” as he took the set.
Melzer, 29, who has never reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, clenched his fists and bellowed into the night air after losing the set.
“You couldn’t be more lucky in a tiebreaker than he was,” Melzer said in a news conference. “I wasn’t happy with my fortune, let’s put it that way.”
Djokovic Ousts Fish
Earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Mardy Fish to leave one American man in the tournament and top-seeded woman Caroline Wozniacki reached the quarterfinals.
Third-seeded Djokovic won 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 against the 19th- seeded Fish to move into the quarterfinals for the fourth straight year. Djokovic was runner-up in 2007 and a semifinalist the past two years.
Fish’s loss left 20th-seeded Sam Querrey as the only remaining American man. Ninth-seeded Andy Roddick lost in the second round and No. 18 John Isner was defeated in the third round at the National Tennis Center in New York.
“I had some chances, I just didn’t execute,” Fish said in a news conference. “He kicked my butt.”
The women’s quarterfinals begin today, with two-time champion Venus Williams facing French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in an afternoon match. Williams, an American, is the third seed, while Schiavone, an Italian, is seeded sixth.
Tonight, defending champion and No. 2 seed Kim Clijsters faces fifth-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur.
Querrey vs. Wawrinka
The men complete their fourth round today. Querrey plays 25th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, who upset No. 4 Andy Murray in the third round, and top-seeded Rafael Nadal faces a fellow Spaniard, No. 23 Feliciano Lopez.
Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion, next will meet Gael Monfils, who advanced by defeating fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet in straight sets. The 17th-seeded Monfils served 14 aces and won 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
Soderling, a fifth-seeded Swede, defeated 21st-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes in four sets.
Wozniacki, the women’s No. 1 seed from Denmark, took advantage of nine double faults by 14th-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova to win 6-3, 6-4 and claim a place in the last eight. Sharapova, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, had 36 unforced errors while Wozniacki had 10 in a match of long baseline rallies.
“That’s great tennis when there’s good rallies,” Wozniacki said in a news conference. “It’s good for the crowd as well. It just feels great.”
The 2004 champion, 11th-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, was ousted 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) by unseeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who plays Wozniacki next.
Kaia Kanepi, the 31st seed from Estonia, also advanced. She’ll play seventh-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who won 6-1, 6-2 last night against unseeded German Andrea Petkovic.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Gloster at the U.S. Open at rgloster@bloomberg.net
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