Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams were still going strong at time of writing for followers of my US Open women’s preview, while Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray were keeping my colleague Tim Clement’s hopes alive in the men’s draw.
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Then Serena meets 52nd-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova.
Williams, who has not been broken all tournament yet, will next face No. 5 seed Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.
The Indo-Swiss pair have always been a treat to watch, and were favourites to win the US Open 2016 title, but their American opponents in the form of Coco Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram played some stunning tennis to clinch the match in a tie breaker. The Czech 24-year-old won a dramatic contest 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
Happy to have the discussion of her under-performance on the game’s major stages behind her, she remained wary of a possible quarter-final meeting with fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.
Tenth seed Gael Monfils motored into the US Open quarterfinals with a straight-set dismissal of Marcos Baghdatis Sunday at the year’s last grand slam championship. The second seed looked in control of his third round match against Paolo Lorenzi, despite losing one set.
Last year, a loss to Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals ended Williams’ bid for a calendar-year grand slam.
After saving a match point in a five-set win in his last outing, Wawrinka was cruising against 63rd-ranked Illya Marchenko, who was playing in his first Grand Slam round of 16.
Wawrinka next faces 2009 U.S. Open champ Juan Martin del Potro, who beat him at Wimbledon this year.
Sixth seed Venus, twice the champion in NY, faces Karolina Pliskova, the big-serving 10th seed from the Czech Republic.
Anastasija Sevastova, who quit tennis suffering from depression and injury in 2013, became the first Latvian woman in 22 years to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The 26-year-old world No. 48 defeated Britain’s 13th seed Johanna Konta, 6-4, 7-5 and goes on to face either Madison Keys of the United States or two-time runner-up Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the semifinals. The last time she lost to a player outside the top 50 at a Grand Slam was to No. 111 Virginie Razzano at the 2012 French Open, after which she started working with coach Patrick Mouratoglo. Del Potro has played just 10-plus sets through four rounds.
He takes on eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem, who turned 23 on Saturday and is grappling with the wear and tear of a long season.
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Del Potro knows all about that.
