At its root, the story captivating fans at Flushing Meadows is the same: the former champion making an unlikely run to reclaim past glory.
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It all amounts to a fairy-tale return for Del Potro, who last made a major quarter-final three years ago and admits he was close to retiring before a final bout of surgery in 2015.
Afterwards, Thiem, the eighth seed, explained that he had been carrying a sore knee since his previous match against Pablo Carrena Busta. Del Potro won 6-3, 3-2 (ret.).
But his stunning run to the Olympic silver medal signaled he’s a contender again. He finally ended his downfall with a break in game 4, cutting the deficit to 3-1, but he got broken in the next game and Murray brought the set home with no difficulties, for a 6-1 6-2 lead after an hour and 20 minutes of play. Del Potro advanced, 6-3, 3-2 (ret.).
“I had some problems with blisters and maybe because of the compensation the knee started to hurt”, explained Thiem. Wawrinka, forced to save a match point in the third round, had less trouble Monday despite a third-set wobble.
“You can’t take too many risks with the knee”. “I’m so glad to be part of the last eight, ” del Potro said, adding, “[Any] thing can happen”.
“Sometimes bother me a bit, but I can deal with that”.
“It’s mental maturity, a little bit of stabilization with everything around me that is allowing me to play with a sense of calm and also with excitement”, said Harrison, who turned pro almost a decade ago and reached a top ranking of 43rd in 2012. But all those victories came with a cost – a tour-high 69 matches, and the long season had started to wear on his body. But he also played quite cleanly after recovering from a double-fault that ceded the opening set: Harrison finished with 33 unforced errors, one in the last set. “He beat me at Wimbledon this year. There were a few points where I would hold the racket with my left and try to stretch out my right hand in between shots – and that’s not going to work”.
Should del Potro make the semi-finals, he would be the lowest-ranked man to do so at a Grand Slam since 237-ranked Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon in 2000.
As she was serving for the victory in the final game, Konjuh was startled – right along with the spectators in Arthur Ashe Stadium – when a piercing noise was heard from the arena’s sound system as she tossed a ball. But the roars he keeps drawing pour down from just about everyone.
Joining Murray in the quarterfinals in the men’s singles are Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Juan Martin Del Potro.
“I really don’t know what’s going on”, del Potro said.
“We have a good connection between the New York City people, between the Argentinean fans, between the American fans and me”, del Potro said.
Next up for Williams is Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep, who beat 11th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5.
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Murray leads the head-to-head with Dimitrov 6-3 although the 25-year-old Bulgarian won their last match in Miami in March. Venus, after winning the first set, looked in complete control of the match, but once Pliskova found her rhythm in her serve, the match turned, with the Czech entering the last eight of a major for the first time in her career after a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win.
