Rafael Nadal sat in an interview room late Friday night deflecting questions about how impressive his form had been at the U.S. Open. Wozniacki also was a finalist in NY in 2009, losing to Kim Clijsters.
Advertisement
She lost U.S. Open finals in 2009 against Kim Clijsters and 2014 against Serena Williams.
Lopez and Lopez have once again beaten Bryan and Bryan at a major tournament.
Pouille never had been to a Grand Slam quarterfinal until Wimbledon a couple of months ago, but it was Nadal who blinked at 6-6. As he rose with eyes wide open and tongue still wagging the last man from France to win any Grand Slam singles title, 1983 French Open champion Yannick Noah, whose son Joakim recently joined the New York Knicks, spread around high-fives in the stands.
The Lopezes, who are not related, move on to the semifinals to take on the victor of the match between Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and No. 12 seeds Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Alexander Peya of Austria.
Joining them in the quarterfinals is last year’s finalist Roberta Vinci, who beat Lesia Tsurenko 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. I am closer than past year to be where I want to be.
Vinci is now ranked No. 8.
Vinci has been dealing with an injured left Achilles tendon – she wore black tape in the shape of a “V” that framed her left calf – and a bad back. “Of course, I’m a bit older, as well”. “Was tough. And now I need to come back there”, he added.
“Maybe it will change my career, but I will see”.
Young Frenchman Lucas Pouille scored a stunning five-set upset over 14-times grand slam singles victor Rafa Nadal, winning a climactic tiebreaker 8-6 to reach the US Open quarter-finals on Sunday.
He next tackles 10th-seeded compatriot Gael Monfils, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victor over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
Nadal’s loss marks the first time he won’t reach a major quarterfinal in a season since 2004.
Pouille, meanwhile, ran out of steam. The underdog was serving to win the match in the fifth set before Nadal broke his service to force the tiebreaker.
Djokovic, 9-0 in US Open fourth-round appearances, struggled through a first-round victory over Jerzy Janowicz, but hasn’t broken a sweat since.
Nadal, 30, saved three match points in the decider but stuffed a forehand volley into the net to yield a fourth winning chance for his 22-year-old opponent. That resulted in a double-fault that ceded the set.
As she walked to the sideline, Vinci looked at the line judge who made the call and smiled sarcastically, giving him a thumb’s up and applauding with her racket.
“It took everything”, Pouille said on court afterwards.
epa05524539 Lucas Pouille of France hits a return to Rafael Nadal of Spain on the seventh day of the US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 04 September 2016.
She said she has a recurring wrist injury and was advised by her doctor to take time off.
His quarterfinal opponent will be top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who cruised past upstart Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, eighth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem and former champion Juan Martin del Potro will also battle for quarter-final berths. The other two, 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille and 10th-seeded Gael Monfils, face off for only the second time.
On the women’s side, in a contest of unseeded players, the two-time U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki plays Anastasija Sevastova, who had never won four straight matches at any major until now.
The 22-year-old Frenchman benefited from a netted Nadal forehand before finally converting his fourth match point at 7-6 with a down-the-line forehand victor.
Advertisement
The roof on Ashe may be a factor.
