But the stoic del Potro never flinched, and got the break back to even things at 3-3 as a part of five straight games that he won to storm ahead with the first set.
Advertisement
Williams made it that far at Flushing Meadows a year ago, before losing to her younger sister Serena. I just want to play tennis in front of the big crowds.
That was his first Grand Slam tournament since his latest wrist operation, before which he seriously considered retiring.
“To be honest”, Pliskova said, “it was really hard. when I lost my serve”.
Dimitrov dumped a routine overhead volley into the net to offer an early 3-1 lead to Murray, who then reeled off the next six games in a row.
“He will be the favorite to win in that match”, said del Potro, who beat Wawrinka at Wimbledon. I got the power from the crowd in every match, and that’s help me a lot to fight and to play my best tennis. “Of course it’s not good to win a match in this way”, del Potro said. He returned for one point before deciding he should not continue.
Wawrinka himself defeated Ukrainian Illya Marchenko 6-4, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 to reach the last 8.
There was a moment in del Potro’s clash when the Argentinian’s backers must have been holding their breath. Thiem said that his knee had been bothering him for three days and that he could not bend it without pain. Through his blistering performances against the 21st seed Johnson, 11th seed David Ferrer and his first-round opponent Diego Schwartzman, in addition to the injury retirement of Dominic Thiem in the fourth round, Del Potro has picked up where he left off in Rio, waltzing through three quality opponents. “I’m playing good tennis”.
Del Potro recalled in his on-court interview after the match how sad he was to watch the U.S. Open on TV, stuck at home the last two years.
Usually floaty, short and ripe for the picking, the quality of Del Potro’s current driven backhand is so poor that it has proven to be surprisingly effective; the rest of the top players just aren’t used to facing a shot of such low quality and that, along with the constant fear most live with of Del Potro’s forehand, has complicated attempts to break it down. Thiem had broken serve for 2-1 and Del Potro called out the trainer to give him a rub on the area around his right shoulder during the changeover.
Still exhausted after the stunning run to an Olympic silver medal that announced him as a contender again, he got a huge break Monday in spending only 72 minutes on court. Entering the US Open with concerns over her serving shoulder, the 22-time major victor hasn’t been broken through four rounds and uncorked the fastest serve of the women’s tournament at 126 miles per hour (203 kph). This time there was no coming back and the 11th-seeded Pliskova achieved a significant milestone: Reaching a maiden grand slam quarterfinal. Nishikori will face Andy Murray for a place in the semi-finals.
Del Potro added that he’s no longer anxious about the wrist.
Advertisement
It was at Flushing Meadows where Del Potro won his only Grand Slam title at the age of 20 in 2009 and he can now look forward to a last-eight match – his first at a major since Wimbledon 2013 – against Stan Wawrinka.
