Kyle Edmund was served up a US Open drubbing by Novak Djokovic but vowed to learn from the man who turfed him out at Flushing Meadows.
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Surprisingly, despite featuring in the “Big 4” club regularly in the last few years, Murray has just three Grand Slams to his name.
The world number two has a 7-1 record against Nishikori whose only win over the Briton came at the World Tour Finals in 2014.
Nevertheless, Edmund is set to reach the edge of the top 50 on the back of his results in NY and he carries great momentum into Britain’s Davis Cup semi-final against Argentina later this month.
“But generally he played a good tournament”.
Djokovic’s victory put him into the last eight against ninth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a 6-3 6-3 6-7 (7) 6-2 victor against American 26th seed Jack Sock. “To play the world No1 on the biggest tennis court in the world, it doesn’t get much better than that”.
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.
“He dropped only one set en route to the quarter-finals so I’m looking forward to that one”.
Edmund has enjoyed something of a NY breakthrough, knocking out Richard Gasquet and John Isner in rounds one and three, but Djokovic was always likely to offer a step up in class and did not disappoint.
Djokovic, looking for his third major of 2016, boasts a remarkable record in NY.
The 29-year-old remains on course for his 13 Grand Slam title and his third this year. The Swiss has been a semi-finalist in 2013 and 2015 and the fans would relish the contest between these two players for sure.
“There’s a lot of learning from this, which is a really good thing”, said Edmund, who expects his world ranking to rise to 55. “I really wanted to start the match well today because I didn’t have much time on the court overall before the fourth round”, he added.
However, the 21-year old Briton produced a very fearless performance in the competition and will surely be one to look out for in the future.
Monfils beat Pouille in their only meeting – in five sets in the first round of the Australian Open in 2015.
Young Frenchman Lucas Pouille scored a stunning, five-set upset over 14-times grand slam singles champion Rafa Nadal, winning a climactic tiebreak 8-6 to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals.
Monfils, who turned 30 on September 1, is in his third quarter-final in NY.
Wednesday’s other quarter-final sees 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro, ranked at 142 but on the comeback trail after three wrist surgeries, tackle third seed Stan Wawrinka, a former Australian and French Open victor.
However, the two have never met on hard courts. The baseline shots, both the forehand and the backhand were working well.
All of which leads me to give a set at the most to Tsonga tonight and the 3-1 to Djokovic at [3.8] seems the best wager in this late night clash.
“It’s going to be important to try to dictate and be aggressive on the court”.
In other matches on Sunday, Angelique Kerber reached the US Open quarterfinals on Sunday, leaving Serena Williams needing to reach the final to have a chance of retaining the world No 1 spot.
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Mr Wario says he hopes to meet representatives of the International Olympic Committee in a few days or next week.
