Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, hits a return shot to Kyle Edmund, of Britain, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in NY.
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Monfils will face either fourth-seeded Roger Nadal or 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille.
But he was no match for defending champion Djokovic, who showed no signs of ring-rust, despite having completed just six games in the previous two rounds – due to injuries to opponents Jiri Vesely and Mikhail Youzhny.
“He played some good stuff at the Olympics and won the bronze”, said Murray who reached the quarter-final with a brutal dismissal of Grigor Dimitrov where he lost just five games.
And while Djokovic looked quite good for the first two sets and at the very end, there was that interlude that included the medical visit.
Now the highest seed in Djokovic’s half of the bracket is No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who will face the Serbian champ on Tuesday in the quarterfinals.
“I needed a little bit of massage”, he said of treatment similar to what he received during his opening-round match against Jerzy Janowicz of Poland.
But Edmund, 21, remained upbeat after a tournament performance that saw him knock out Richard Gasquet and John Isner, ranked 15th and 21st respectively. I’ve got a lot of learning to do.
“Obviously, I haven’t played too much tennis”.
Sevastova, who returned to the professional game in January past year, added: “After coming back of course you enjoy it when you win more”.
Kerber would’ve earned the top rank in the world had she not lost in the final of a tournament in Cincinnati last month.
“It took everything. I could not dream better than that”, Pouille, the 22-year-old, said of his victory on Sunday. “I was very aggressive all the match and at 6-6 (in the tiebreak) I didn’t want to miss”, Pouille said after the match.
“When it happens it will be an fantastic feeling, because that was also one of my dreams when I was a kid”.
WOMEN’S QUARTERFINALS: Caroline Wozniacki has an apartment in Manhattan, so the U.S. Open offers all the benefits of a home tournament for her – sleeping in her own bed, lunch or dinner out with friends every day.
Former world no 1 Wozniacki, the runner-up in 2009 and 2014, downed American eighth seed Madison Keys 6-3 6-4 on Sunday to make the last-eight in NY for a fifth time.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion suffered a 1-6, 6-2,4-6,6-3, 6-7 (6-8) defeat against the 24th seed in the last eight contest that lasted nearly four hours.
Pouille overcame the two-time victor 6-1 2-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) to secure a last eight meeting with compatriot Gaël Monfils.
Pouille came out firing, pushing Nadal back with an array of deep groundstrokes and angled shots.
Djokovic, an early loser at Wimbledon and the Rio Games, is still struggling to find the winning level which took him to three grand slam titles in 2015 and the first two of this season.
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The top seeded Indo-Russian combination could hardly trouble their Czech-Croatian opponents, going down 3-6, 4-6 in one hour and five minutes.
