Nadal was upset in the U.S. Open’s fourth round by 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) on Sunday, prolonging the 14-time Grand Slam title winner’s quarterfinal drought at major tournaments. One point later, the match was over.
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Meanwhile women’s second seed Angelique Kerber was first through to their semi-finals bringing Roberta Vinci’s Flushing Meadows dream run to an end with a clinical 7-5 6-0 win.
Playing for the first time on the 22,000-seat Arthur Ashe stadium, Pouille was energized rather than intimidated.
Afterward, Monfils took a swipe at those who have questioned his methods. Reigning champion served well and he also had rock solid net coverage and return game, winning nearly 50% of the points on Jo’s serve. “So what’s the point to make the show and lose, actually?” “So I was ready for it”, said the Frenchman. But he has been fantastic during this tournament, winning all 15 sets he’s played.
But the Serb star, who received on-court treatment on his right arm-just as he did in the first round against Jerzy Janowicz-regrouped quickly and closed out the match by breaking Edmund at love. I have been saying to the French press that I could serve faster.
After 19 sets and more than 12 hours on court, Pouille couldn’t muster the same kind of energy against Monfils that he had in earlier matches. Pouille never had won a U.S. Open match or any match that lasted five sets until last week; his 4-hour-plus win against Nadal on Sunday was his third five-setter in a row.
Monfils did not face a single break point in his demolition of Pouille, winning a daunting 85 per cent of points on his first serve as he unleashed deliveries that topped out at 135 mph and registered 34 outright winners.
Like Federer, Pouille has set up a training base in Dubai. “I think he was better than me today”.
A tiebreaker eventually had to decide the whole thing, at which point Pouille raced to 6-3 advantage.
He joins ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 10th ranked Gael Monfils who also had fourth-round victories Sunday. This year, though, he advanced to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon-the farthest he had ever made it previously in a grand slam tournament-which gave him an all-time high ranking of 21.
Monfils said he “might watch a little bit” of Djokovic vs. Tsonga, pulling for what he called “a full French semifinal”.
The 30-year-old Monfils reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time since his 2008 run in the French Open.
The world No1, who was bothered by a left wrist injury that may have been a factor in his third-round exit from Wimbledon and first-round loss at the Rio Olympics, had his right arm and elbow area treated during a medical timeout at 2-1 in the third set against Edmund, but Djokovic down-played it.
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Nadal, victor of 14 Grand Slam titles, then hit back and that pattern continued as the match headed into a decider.
