“It’s given me a lot more belief in my game”, Edmund said.
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Meanwhile, fourth-seed Rafael Nadal suffered a huge blow as he crashed out of the fourth major of the season after going down against France’s Lucas Pouille. Edmund went blow for blow with the world No1 from the start, but got a little over-eager in the hitting war and Djokovic broke in the third game.
In one of the biggest surprises of the tournament so far, Nadal was unable to reach the quarter-finals at a grand slam once again – his last last-eight appearance coming at the 2015 French Open.
Against Tsonga he mustered only five aces and was broken six times by the 2008 Australian Open runner-up, who has reached at least the semifinals of every Grand Slam except this one. “The first complete match I played was a first-round night session”, Djokovic said on court afterwards.
Djokovic has won 15 out of his 26 encounters with Tsonga. Djokovic broke three times in the set to go two sets up.
Also of interest to them will be Tuesday’s other men’s quarterfinal, when a third Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, takes on No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Edmund recovered to reach game point but Djokovic was not to be denied a break of serve, closing the game with a backhand volley victor to take a 2-1 lead.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion suffered a 1-6, 6-2,4-6,6-3, 6-7 (6-8) defeat against the 24th seed in the last eight contest that lasted nearly four hours.
Tenth seed Gael Monfils motored into the US Open quarter-finals with a straight-sets dismissal of Marcos Baghdatis, winning 6-3 6-2 6-3.
It is true Djokovic has spent just a tick over five hours on court here and Tsonga has laboured for almost 11, but it could be argued the Frenchman may be sharper through match fitness.
Yes, he had taken a pasting from Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 and, yes, he was out of the US Open, but he could sense – as could everyone else – that the past week represented a huge stepping stone.
Monroe and Young had split the first two sets with Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and were trailing 4-2 in the third when the incident happened.
She lost U.S. Open finals in 2009 against Kim Clijsters and 2014 against Serena Williams.
Djokovic claimed afterwards he felt his opponent had been “overwhelmed” by the big stage but still feels it will not be the last time he faces the Brit in the latter stages of a Grand Slam.
As she walked to the sideline, Vinci looked at the line judge who made the call and smiled sarcastically, giving him a thumb’s up and applauding with her racket. “Of course, this Grand Slam is very unique for me: I never experienced something like this.to have three retirements on the road to the semifinals”.
Roberta Vinci, last year’s U.S. Open runner-up, is back in the quarterfinals.
Wozniacki will face unseeded Anastastija Sevastova in the quarters after she shocked Britain’s Jo Konta suffered a shock 6-4 7-5.
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Lopez and Lopez have once again beaten Bryan and Bryan at a major tournament.
