“I didn’t expect to be in the second week of this tournament”.
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Only Djokovic (last season), Roger Federer (2004, 2006 and 2007) and Rod Laver (1969, when he completed a calendar-year Grand Slam) have been to a season’s four major title matches since the professional era began in 1968. The soft spoken, unassuming player with the deceptively aggressive groundstrokes admits to feeling very moved by the kind of support he’s been receiving from journalists, players and the spectators. But he proved with his unexpected silver medal at the Rio Olympics that he can compete with the bests. That might be too big an issue for one match, but Dimitrov is in a good place verus Chardy. The Bulgarian’s resurgence has left many pundits split on whether he’s going to revive his career.
American teen Jared Donaldson saw his dream run come to an end, beaten 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the third round by No. 21 Ivo Karlovic. Now, all he needs to do is soak up the love, savor the comeback, and avoid elevators. He had surgery and missed all of 2010. Thursday’s action should be on par with the previous three days. As it turned out, del Potro knocked Johnson out in the second.
Murray has won 23 of his past 24 matches, including an unprecedented second consecutive Olympic singles gold medal at the Rio Games this month.
Japanese No. 6 seed Kei Nishikori also moved through to the third round with a hard-fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Karen Khachanov, while Austrian No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem cruised past Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 and third-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka topped Italy’s Alessandro Giannessi 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.
Del Potro is currently seeded 142 in the ATP rankings but is expected to rise quickly up the rankings after the grand slam.
Yesterday against Ferrer, the 34-year-old Spaniard seeded 11th, del Potro demonstrated his recovery powers on-court, scrambling back from a 2-5 first-set deficit to force a tiebreak, of which del Potro quickly took control with his heavy forehand. In fact, since the start of the Olympics, just one man-who happens to be the hottest player in tennis at the moment-has managed to stop the former world No. 4. “If I’m staying in the second week I want more”.
This was the first-ever night win at the US Open for del Potro, but his 0-for-3 record came at the hands of Djokovic (twice) and Lleyton Hewitt, both champions here. Murray lost to Djokovic at the Australian Open in January, and the French Open in June, then won Wimbledon in July. But in his case, necessity was the mother of invention.
The oldest player in the draw at age 36, the sixth-seeded Williams is coming off a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon, her deepest run at a major since 2010.
Carla Suarez Navarro has defeated Elena Vesnina to secure a spot in the U.S. Open round of 16.
Juan Martin del Potro returned to Arthur Ashe stadium in style, defeating American Steve Johnson in straight sets.
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USTA Player Development general manager Martin Blackman says the partnership also makes Adidas the official outfitter of player development coaches “to reflect the look and professionalism that exemplifies Team USA”.
