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Clinging to Blinders, Victoria Azarenka Closes In

The U.S. Open quarterfinal between Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka has resumed after a rain delay of 1 hour, 25 minutes.

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Adept at comebacks – in the second round, he recorded his eighth victory in a match after dropping the opening two sets – Murray did push Anderson to a fourth set, but that was the extent of the rally this time.

Murray had battled his way back from two sets down in the second round against France’s Adrian Mannarino, but could not work another miracle against the 14th-ranked, 29-year-old Anderson, who swept the final tiebreak 7-0. She won two grand slam (tournaments).

As for her success this week, Kvitova says she’s just more chilled out this year in New York, and it’s showed.

“Apparently, someone said I was out of the tournament“, Young said, “and so the guys [locker room attendants] thought I went home”. “They were taking some souvenirs”.

Asked afterward about Young’s disappearing footwear, Wawrinka jokingly assured everyone: “It’s not my coach who took them”.

The 26th-seeded Italian made the quarterfinals for the sixth time in seven years, beating 2011 champion Sam Stosur 6-4, 6-4 on Monday in a matchup of 30-somethings.

The 26th seed has only reached the last eight at one other Slam (2014, Australia) and will move on to face either Petra Kvitova or Johanna Konta in the quarters. This is Halep’s fifth grand slam quarterfinal appearance since 2014. With Romanian gymnastics great Nadia Comaneci cheering her on, Halep came back from down a break in the third set to advance to the semifinals against 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta.

Simona Halep is the favourite to win her part of the draw and set up a match-up with Serena Williams in the final of the tournament.

Halep, for her part, said she is feeling no pressure from the lofty expectations this year.

Victoria Azarenka is seeded No. 20 at this U.S. Open. Wawrinka and Young engaged in a hard fought battle that lasted four sets but Wawrinka eventually came out a victor, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. And, after Donald Young fell to Stan Wawrinka in the round of 16 on Sunday afternoon, the task of trying to get an American flag into the quarters fell to beanpole John Isner, who had the daunting task of facing two-seed Roger Federer in the late-night anchor match at Ashe.

Wawrinka suffered a few more anxious fleeting moments against another American that not ever been beyond the last round for a chief.

Wawrinka, 30, smacked a backhand service return victor to break Young for a 2-1 edge and denied the American’s only break chance of the first set with a forehand victor in the fourth game.

“Maybe it’s, of course, connected with kind of my health, that I’m not practicing that much, I’m kind of little bit quiet, not really doing these normal kind of things, not really expectation from myself”, Kvitova said.

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Azarenka’s sartorial blunder isn’t the only one at this year’s Open.

Victoria Azarenka serves the ball to Varvara Lepchenko during their fourth-round match at the U.S. Open