Was it Novak Djokovic returning to his all-conquering self, or Kyle Edmund struggling to cope with the occasion that led to a fairly lopsided scoreline in their last 16 US Open clash?
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Novak Djokovic’s right elbow had to be treated by a trainer in the third set of an otherwise matter-of-fact 6-2 6-1 6-4 victory over Kyle Edmund at the US Open.
The two-time champion was unable to capitalise on a 1-0 lead in the fifth set against the record third Frenchman to reach the last eight in NY – a first in the Open tennis era.
Djokovic, who has won his last 73 matches against opponents ranked outside the world’s top 50, is now just one win away from reaching the semi-finals here for the 10th year in a row.
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.
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“I congratulate my opponent who probably played with better decisions than me on the last couple of points”.
The recuperation time Djokovic had enjoyed since his freakish display in the first round, thanks to a walkover and then Mikhail Youzhny’s retirement after six games in the third round, seemed to have paid off.
Kyle Edmund, of Britain, hits a return shot to Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in NY.
The world No1 will be hoping that normal service has been resumed after his run of 28 consecutive appearances in Grand Slam quarter-finals ended at Wimbledon, where he admitted he was troubled by personal issues and was followed by a shocking first-round exit at the Olympics.
Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga booked his spot as he knocked out the final American man in the tournament, Jack Sock, 6-3 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-2. He had some well-documented struggles leading into the final grand slam of the year, having an early exit at Wimbledon and the Olympics, and hasn’t looked himself in NY.
“I’m feeling very good, to be honest”. “I was very pleased with my performance, except for a little drop in my level midway through the third set”.
“So, yeah, you’re just anxious because you want to go out there and experience it”. “It was odd. I didn’t find it that hard to study but, yeah, it made me go back to tennis”. “And to win three best-of-five sets, I’ve never done that in my career”.
“Obviously I haven’t played too much tennis”.
Pouille overcame the two-time victor 6-1 2-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) to secure a last eight meeting with compatriot Gaël Monfils.
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Andy Murray will see if he can join them when he faces Grigor Dimitrov on Monday.
