Top-seeded Novak Djokovic easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 shellacking of unseeded Kyle Edmund of Great Britain on Sunday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I had a high intensity”.
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After 75 minutes against Edmund, Djokovic was ahead by two sets and a break. I’ve got a lot of learning to do. Meanwhile, Edmund was having the tournament of his life, beating Richard Gasquet in round one before reaching the fourth round of a slam for the first time after defeating John Isner in four sets to set up this clash.
But while Djokovic looked good for the first two sets against the 84th-ranked Edmund, and again at the very end, there was that interlude that included the medical visit.
Djokovic had a second-round walkover as Czech Jiri Vesely withdrew due to injury, and was leading 4-2 in his third-round match when Russian Mikhail Youzhny retired with a leg ailment, making it six days since his last full match.
Having played only a little over five hours of tennis so far in the tournament, the Serb now faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight, but he insists he feels in good shape.
At the start of the third, however, he called on the trainer to massage his troublesome right elbow and there was some temporary respite for Edmund, who broke twice to lead 3-2.
But world number 84 Edmund can certainly look back on his time in NY with fond memories, following wins over 13th seed Richard Gasquet and 20th seed John Isner.
That came right after Djokovic got broken for the first time in the match and was part of a stretch of three games in a row for Edmund.
“I made Kyle work for each point and kept him moving around the court”.
Edmund said he was leaving the tournament with more belief in his game. “I really wanted to start the match well today”, Djokovic said, “because I didn’t have much time on the court overall before the fourth round, and considering I had some struggles before the tournament”. Not that I didn’t believe in my game but it’s nice to actually do it on a big stage against some good players, two top-20 players and a guy that was playing well.
“I think because mentally I’m stronger, physically I’m stronger, [that] gave me a lot of confidence before the match”.
“But I’m trying to not put pressure on myself, because I know I have to win a few more matches to reach the No 1”. “To play the world No1 on the biggest tennis court in the world, it doesn’t get much better than that”.
“So three good wins there that I managed – different styles, different games”.
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Also through in NY are the French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, who beat Jack Sock and Marcos Baghdatis, respectively.
