The 2012 champion at Flushing Meadows will face No. 6 Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals Wednesday; the other matchup on their side of the draw is No. 3 Stan Wawrinka vs. 2009 U.S. Open title victor Juan Martin del Potro.
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Monday’s victory was particularly brief after eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem retired in the second set because of a bum knee. Thiem attempted to pull through, but informed the umpire that he could not continue after coming back out to play one more point.
Del Potro will face either Stan Wawrinka, whom he upset at Wimbledon, or Illya Marchenko in the quarterfinals.
The third seed needed just under three hours to see off his Ukrainian opponent 6-4 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
The man who made history by becoming the first player to defeat Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the same Grand Slam in his stirring run to the title seven years ago has been adopted by New Yorkers as one of their own. Nishikori earned a straight-sets victory over No. 21 seed Ivo Karlovic.
“But”, del Potro added, “anything can happen in this event for me”.
Juan Martin del Potro and Venus Williams experienced differing emotions at Flushing Meadows on Monday while another former US Open champion, Serena Williams, broke a grand slam record. But the stoic del Potro never flinched, and got the break back to even things at 3-3 as a part of five straight games that he won to storm ahead with the first set. Pliskova broke for 6-5 on a net-cord victor when her rival looked set to put a volley away.
Simona Halep, meanwhile, set a potential quarterfinal showdown with top-seed Serena Williams by easing past Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5.
Granted a wild card after collecting a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, del Potro, maintained that his wrist felt fine, and whe will face No. 3 Stanislas Wawrinka next. From the end of the first set and beginning of the second set, it got worse and worse.
“I didn’t expect to be in the quarters in my second Slam after my comeback”, he said.
Although this was not the way he would have liked to have won, this is still a significant moment for 27-year-old Del Potro as he returns to the top 100 in the world rankings – around No 63 to be exact – after being as low as No 1,045 in February. The 22-time major champ plays Yaroslava Shvedova later in the day.
“I don’t know if I am playing better than I was in 2009 but I will try to keep winning”. He will play third-seeded Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, with a potential meeting against No. 2 Andy Murray in the semifinals. Having just turned 23 Saturday, the Austrian logged an ATP-high 69 matches during a breakthrough season that has clearly worn him down.
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Seed eighth here, the Austrian made an impressive start, breaking Del Potro in the third game of the match with an instinctive backhand lob. Should del Potro go on and get to the final, he would be the lowest-ranked man in the modern era to make a Slam championship match. Sixth-seeded Venus is on first against 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who is in the round of 16 at a major for the first time.
