Pouille, in pink at the top of your screen, gets on a roll early, already leading 4-1 in the opener, fires a forehand down the line, which Rafa barely retrieves, but the Frenchman has an open court to put away the victor, he grabs the set 6-1.
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The No. 4 seed had already fought off three set-point attempts from his opponent, the No. 24 seed, Lucas Pouille.
But the 14-time Grand Slam champion returned the favor in the second set, picking up his aggressiveness to strike 14 winners and break the Frenchman’s serve on two occasions.
But this time Nadal rushed it too much, and the ball hit the net. “I know what’s going on”. It would be long.
Rafael Nadal’s US Open campaign ended during the early hours of Monday when the two-time champion suffered a shock fourth-round loss to 22-year-old Louis Pouille.
But there was still a chance.
He has taken on Gilles Muller, Jan Satral, Nicolas Almagro and the ever popular Marco Baghdatis never looking overly challenged and has only played one tie-breaker across 12 sets of Tennis.
A forehand error from Pouille gifted Nadal the first point but four points in a row saw the Frenchman take control and he brought up three match points as he closed in on the finishing line.
But, under the pressure of momentous stakes, Pouille summoned the nerve needed to seal the match.
However, despite battling an arm injury once again, Djokovic prevailed 6-2 6-1 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Monfils said: ‘My health has been big trouble I think all my career and now it is somehow stabilised. He’s lost in four finals and three semifinals over the past decade.
Monfils’ familiarity with Pouille helped him in the quarters.
“Is true that I don’t have lot of matches on my shoulders for the last three, four months, but even like this I lost an opportunity”, Nadal said. “I am sad”, Nadal added.
But he has always been considered a rising prospect in France, and now he is beginning to collect on his promise. “I think because mentally I’m stronger, physically I’m stronger”. Nadal and Pouille gained a lot of respect for each other during the match.
Indeed, in the final tally, each player won 156 points.
Roberta Vinci fell apart after losing the opening set on a foot fault, allowing No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber to take the last nine games and win their U.S. Open quarterfinal 7-5, 6-0 on Tuesday.
Monfils has always been regarded as an unfulfilled talent, never quite meeting expectations after he won three of the four Junior Grand Slams in 2004. “At 6-4, it was not the same”, Pouille said smiling. I was a break down in the fifth, I came back. “I should be winning before”. The 30-year-old said he was disappointed to lose out on the advantage and have a good event at the Flushing Meadows.
“So, yeah, it would have been better if I played a bit less time on court”. I had the right attitude.
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“I fought until the end”. “As I say, he’s in a good position to give [himself] chances to be in the top 10 position, fighting for bigger things”. I’m happy where I am now, so I going to prepare great for my match’.
