Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, celebrates after defeating Kyle Edmund, of Britain, in the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, early Monday morning, September 5, 2016, in NY.
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Also on Sunday, Novak Djokovic played his first match since the first round after a pair of walkovers, hammering Brit Kyle Edmund 6-1 6-2 6-4 in a post-midnight finish. “Maybe it will change my career, but I will see”, he said.
His efforts have given him a good chance of qualifying as one of the top-eight players for the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London.
Even after the tighter third set, Djokovic was pleased with his night’s work.
“I’m looking forward”, the 22-year-old said, and well he might after prevailing in a scintillating fifth-set tiebreaker over Nadal, a player he’s admired since his youth. I know what’s going on.
In a heartbreaking moment at the US Open 2016, Rafael Nadal was knocked out in his fourth-round match against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
The Serb has kept himself busy on the practice courts but was happy to cut loose against an actual opponent, making 21-year-old Edmund the target of his arsenal of rifled groundstrokes, angled volleys, pinpoint passing shots, lobs and drop shots.
Fifty-two winners from Nadal – whose attacking response saw him come out a victor on 35 of 48 forays to the net – were not enough.
But nerves also got to Nadal, who netted a routine forehand to give Pouille one final match point, which he clinched with a forehand blast down-the-line from behind the baseline.
“I couldn’t dream better than this”, Pouille said in an on-court television interview after falling to his back in joy as he secured the win after a wild fifth-set tiebreak. I took my own physical trainer. “You can not go insane thinking about these kind of things, no?”
Meanwhile, Nadal told media wing that “it was a close match and I would like to wish my opponent a best of luck for the upcoming matches”. It’s OK. I did my best today. “Today, I think I haven’t the chance to do it, but Lucas, hit two good tweeners”.
The four-hour, seven-minute contest entranced the crowd in Arthur Ashe stadium, where Pouille recalled admiring Nadal as a youngster.
Pouille, 22, said his hard passage to the last eight, which included three five-setters, took its toll. I think I have no shame to say it.
His next matchup is against No. 10 seed Gael Monfils, who earlier Sunday defeated Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
The fourth-round match had a grand slam pedigree to it with Kerber, the Australian Open champion, going against twice Wimbledon victor Kvitova, but it failed to deliver any major excitement.
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The remaining round of 16 matches were scheduled for Monday, when world number two Andy Murray will take on Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
