The night match features what figures to be a highly entertaining affair between No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, a two-time major victor, and unseeded Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 Open champ who is riding high after undergoing multiple wrist surgeries.
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He added: “There is a long way for me right now to get back to number one but I’m doing my best to just play my best tennis and have fun with it”.
“I thought that I came out with the right intensity”, Djokovic said. “That’s the position where I want to be”.
In round two, Djokovic received a walkover after Jiri Vesely withdrew owing to a forearm injury.
The Serbian, who was gifted a walkover in the second round and a retirement after six games in the third round, was leading the match against Tsonga, 6-3 6-2 on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
But after being two points from taking the first set against Kerber while serving for it at 5-4, 30-all, the No. 7-seeded Vinci faltered badly.
“I’m in the semi-finals, so that’s what matters for me the most”, Djokovic told reporters.
“I’ve tried to raise the level of my performance as the tournament has progressed”.
He can become Asia’s first Grand Slam men’s singles champion while the title would net him a windfall of $3.5 million. I didn’t feel that great prior to the tournament and in my first-round match I had some physical issues. Come on. To be honest, am I going to hurt myself for people? No. “It would have been better if I played a bit less time on court”. I just hope that I’ll continue to follow the same path. “I got a lot of days off and recovered my body”.
“I never experienced something like this to have three retirements on the road to the semi-finals”.
Czech Karolina Pliskova blew past Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals of the US Open. Keber, who will be world No. 1 if she wins the tournament, was ruthless in the second set as she outclassed the Italian with a 6-0 rout that lasted for 24 minutes.
Pouille quite simply ran out of steam, winding up with just about three times as many unforced errors as Monfils, 44-15.
The Serbian world number one will face another Frenchman, Gael Monfils, for a place in Sunday’s championship match after the 10th seed pummelled compatriot Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
The two matches continued a run of one-sided contests in the night sessions.
“As I said, this scenario. was ideal at this stage”.
Sevastova’s movement was clearly affected by her injury and there were times when she appeared to be on the brink of tears.
“He’s better player than me, definitely”, said Monfils who has yet to drop a set but hasn’t faced a seeded player.
Wozniacki, the finalist in 2009 and 2014 and semifinalist in 2010 and 2011, sympathised with Sevastova after she spent nearly three months out of the sport with a right ankle injury earlier this year.
“I love watching Gael”, Djokovic said.
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A hard year for Wozniacki, who meets Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals, has seen the 26-year-old Dane fall to No74 in the world rankings, but this has always been her favourite tournament and the former world No1 has twice finished runner-up here.
