Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, receives medical attention during his match against Kyle Edmund, of Britain, in the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in NY.
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On the men’s side of the draw, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils progressed to the last eight after beating Jack Sock and Marcos Baghdatis respectively.
“I think, playing John, your chances don’t come very often, so you have to capitalise when they do”.
“It’s been a great tournament so far”, Edmund said courtside in his understated way. I actually like playing night sessions very much.
“I wanted to make him move around the court”, said Djokovic afterwards.
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.
‘I was pleased, ‘ Djokovic said in his post-match press conference after winning 6-2 6-1 6-4.
Perhaps Djokovic also sensed an opportunity in the various doubts that have tracked him over the past couple of months: the “private issues” and the mechanical problems in his left wrist and right arm.
The world number one needed four tough sets to beat Jerzy Janowicz in the first round last Monday.
“It took everything. I could not dream better than that”, Pouille, the 22-year-old, said of his victory on Sunday.
American 20th seed Isner delivered 27 aces and enjoyed the support of a raucous home crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium, but Edmund overcame both to win 6-4 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7/5).
But the crisis was averted and Djokovic, seemingly nearly affronted by having his superiority questioned, restored normal order by breaking Edmund twice more to close out the win in 1 hour, 55 minutes.
Del Potro, the 2009 US Open victor, whose career has been interrupted by a string of wrist surgeries, needed a wild card to get into the year’s last grand slam.
He has reached at least the quarterfinals at 29 of the past 30 Grand Slam tournaments – the exception was his loss in the third round of Wimbledon in June against Sam Querrey.
Edmund dealt with some more big serves and held his nerve while his opponent seemingly lost his, with the Brit taking the tie-break 7-5 to complete victory.
“But, again, I’m not too concerned about my game itself”.
Jo-Wilfired Tsonga has been an enigma in the world of tennis, having the talent and ability to reach the top but that he is yet to win a major Grand Slam shows how inconsistent he has been.
His left wrist had been bothering him since early August, so Djokovic arrived in NY without much recent match play, having lost in the first round of the Rio Olympics and pulled out of a hard-court tuneup tournament.
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Sevastova, who returned to the professional game in January past year, added: “After coming back of course you enjoy it when you win more”. The Spaniard was in sublime form coming into the second week at Flushing Meadows.
