The 22-year-old then pulled 6-3 clear to open up three match points but, while Nadal saved them all, he then missed a simple forehand and Pouille pounced to snatch a momentous victory.
Advertisement
He made sure the fourth chance didn’t evaporate, too.
Lucas Pouille of France (left) shakes hands with Rafael Nadal of Spain after their US Open Men’s Singles match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in NY.
That meant the match going level at 6-6, with both players having won 156 points each, and with the US Open not having the “fifth set you continue playing till someone wins conventionally” rule, it meant a tiebreak.
“So I’m really glad to be back”, Djokovic said in an on-court interview.
He’s satisfied with the progress, and with his attention focused on quarter-final foe Gael Monfils, happy to wait and see if his latest big win will prove to be a career-changer. The tenth seed takes the opener 6-3 thanks to the ace. “She serves normal. At practice, she serves the quantity that we usually do, full power”, Mouratoglou said.
Using a phone during a professional tennis match is not allowed, and chair umpire Alison Hughes noticed what was going on. “But that’s it. I give it my best”.
Three French players are among the final eight of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 1947.
“I fought to the end today but I needed something that was not there”.
“I guess everything was fine today”, the two-time NY semi-finalist said. When the opponent beat you, is not the time to find excuses is mental or physical.
“Doesn’t matter if you go through injuries; doesn’t matter if you arrived with less preparation”.
Alarm bells were ringing after just 28 minutes: Pouille broke Nadal twice with some dazzling shot-making for a 6-1 lead, acing to hold. Anyone’s match to win.
Sevastova, who retired in 2013 but made a comeback, will take on Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark after she overcame American Madison Keys, seeded eighth, 6-3, 6-4.
The 14th-seeded Kvitova had 43 unforced errors and seven doubles-faults – the last coming on match point. But Pouille broke to 4-all. Nadal said Pouille has a very bright future.
Serena and Venus Williams, the sisters with 29 Grand Slam titles and a stack of records between them, will try to maintain a collision course today when they play their fourth-round matches. The Spaniard recovered with a stellar effort in the fourth set and then remained alive to force the fifth-set tiebreaker. However, an uncharacteristic volley error from the Spaniard, and Pouille produced one last forehand victor, his 59th victor of the match, for a famous victory, 7-6 (6).
Nadal has come back from the brink before, and he can do it again.
And Tsonga would be able to roll to a four set victory, sealing things when Sock badly misfires on this return on match point – the Frenchman is now into the quarters for the second straight year. Had the right attitude. The biggest problem with assessing where exactly Nadal is in his 30th year, after so many struggles, is the fact that it’s hard to know with all his physical problems.
Wozniacki, a U.S. Open finalist in 2009 and 2014 but unseeded this year after being sidelined for two months by an ankle injury, dominated from the start and wrapped up victory in a speedy 78 minutes on a sun-splashed Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Advertisement
Caroline Wozniacki, of Denmark, serves to Madison Keys, of the United States, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in NY.
