“I didn’t expect to be in the quarters in my second Slam after my comeback”, he said. “Hopefully we’ll both keep going”.
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“I really don’t know what’s going on”, he said. Williams turns 35 on September 26.
Williams has made it to the quarterfinals in each of her past nine appearances at Flushing Meadows.
“I never expected to play that many matches, of course, this year”, he said. Serving for the match in the third set, the third-seeded Wawrinka was broken and then lost a tiebreaker. Game 10 proved to be crucial, Marchenko served to stay in the set but crumbled under pressure, as Wawrinka broke him to take the initial lead by 6-4.
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 number 63 from Ukraine.
Marchenko had dropped the first set of his third-round match against 14th-seeded Nick Kyrgios but won the next two as the Australian struggled with a hip injury that eventually forced him to retire. Venus, after winning the first set, looked in complete control of the match, but once Pliskova found her rhythm in her serve, the match turned, with the Czech entering the last eight of a major for the first time in her career after a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win.
2014 finalist Kei Nishikori advances to his 2nd US Open quarter-final after a rock solid 6-3 6-4 7-6 win over Ivo Karlovic in 2 hours time.
At 36, Williams was trying to become the oldest Grand Slam quarterfinalist since Martina Navratilova was 37 at Wimbledon in 1994.
Simona Halep, meanwhile, set a potential quarterfinal showdown with top-seed Serena Williams by easing past Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5.
What has she learned about playing Serena?
Shvedova did not put Williams under any stress and failed to even register one break chance the entire match against the 22-times grand slam victor.
The way she patrolled the tennis court, however, and her grit, indicated that the seven-time grand slam victor still had plenty to offer. “Got a lot of free points with my serve, and that was important”. The match started in Austrian’s favor, Juan Martin wasted 3 game points in game 3 to lose hi serve, and Thiem was 3-1 up after that.
As with Andy Murray, the scene of his breakthrough major will always hold a special place in his heart, and the Argentinian seemed energised against the Austrian Dominic Thiem, who quit after only an hour and 12 minutes of their match on Arthur Ashe Court with a knee injury, when 6-3 and 3-2 down.
Thiem took a medical timeout to have trainers look at his right knee after the second set’s fifth game.
Should del Potro make the semi-finals he would be the lowest-ranked man to do so at a Grand Slam since 237th-ranked Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon in 2000. But all those victories came with a cost – a tour-high 69 matches, and the long season had started to wear on his body.
There was a moment in del Potro’s clash when the Argentinian’s backers must have been holding their breath. He missed the tournament the past two years after surgeries on his left wrist.
But his stunning run to the Olympic silver medal signaled he’s a contender again. I’m enjoying even more when I get into the courts than years ago, ” del Potro said.
The popular Argentine is proving that, into the quarters despite playing just 10-plus sets.
Jimmy Connors was ranked 174 when he went on to the US Open semifinals in 1991.
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His career derailed by four wrist surgeries – no other grand slam victor in recent history, perhaps ever, has been hit as hard by injuries – del Potro wanted the trainer at the first changeover.
