“I don’t think he started the match really badly”, Murray later told a media conference. And I served very well when I was behind in the games. “I made very few errors and made it tough for him”.
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But Murray was imperious – hitting a career-best 141mph bullet to win the first set, while he allowed his opponent just four service holds.
“I served one at 145 in San Jose but the next day they recalibrated the gun because it was completely wrong”. I think I was lucky.
But Murray is playing about as well as possible lately, reaching the final at each of his last seven tournaments prior to the U.S. Open.
“I played extremely well”. I wanted too make sure, if I got ahead, that I stayed on top of him. Of course, it’s a great experience for me. It has been a great summer for the British players with Andy once again leading from the front and the performances from the players at the US Open gives us a lot of momentum going into the tie.. “He deserves all the credit today”.
Del Potro is playing just his second Grand Slam event since the 2014 Australian Open. “The conditions do a lot for you to serve quick”.
“It’s been a little bit different this year with the roof and getting used to that”.
“I enjoy it here”, Murray said. It’s obviously an unbelievable court to play on, a fantastic atmosphere. “I was able to play great tennis today”. Kei’s been to the finals here before.
World number one Novak Djokovic, who has hardly been tested after receiving a second-round walkover and benefited from a first-set retirement in the third round, faces Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his quarter-final.
In her first grand slam quarter-final, Pliskova will take on Konjuh. The 2009 US Open champion is ranked No. 142, but will already climb back into the Top 65.
Serena Williams broke through another barrier, her 308th grand slam match win taking her past Roger Federer for the most victories in major tournaments and into the quarter-finals. “He played some good stuff at the Olympics and won the bronze”.
The 23-year-old Thiem had needed five sets to beat Australia’s John Millman in the first round and four to get past Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the last 32. “It’s not that I didn’t try”, he said.
“I’m not anxious about my wrist at the moment because I’m practicing every day”.
“Now I have to hit my backhand even better than today for my next match”. But I won. I’m still in the tournament. I didn’t have any dip in concentration or my level. “I didn’t hit a bunch of serves that were like 139, 140, 141”, he said. “I’m looking forward to do a good match after tomorrow”.
Having saved a match point in an epic triumph over Dan Evans in the last round, Wawrinka, a semi-finalist in 2013 and 2015, cruised through the first two sets against Marchenko.
Wawrinka, a former Australian and French Open champion, reached a fourth successive quarter-final in NY with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 win over Illya Marchenko, the world No 63 from Ukraine. The Scot beat the world No7 in five sets in the Davis Cup in March and beat him 6-1, 6-4 in the Olympic semi-finals. It’s going to be hard match.
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Williams will have a day off before tackling Simona Halep after the fifth-seeded Romanian’s 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
