“It’s not good to win a match in this way, I feel very sad for him”, Del Potro said.
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Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the first time since 2012 on Monday afternoon, leading eighth-seed Dominic Thiem 6-3, 3-2 before Thiem retired to push the 2009 champion into the final eight.
Third seed Wawrinka, victor of the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open, overpowered the 63rd-ranked Marchenko, who reached the fourth round when 14th-seeded Nick Kyrgios retired with a hip injury while trailing two sets to one.
But the stoic del Potro never flinched, and got the break back to even things at 3-3 as a part of five straight games that he won to storm ahead with the first set.
After saving a match point in a five-set win in his last outing, Wawrinka was cruising against 63rd-ranked Illya Marchenko, who was playing in his first Grand Slam round of 16.
Del Potro’s quarterfinal opponent will be third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, who has already made a cameo in this saga. He didn’t want to take any risks with a knee injury and planned to get an MRI.
Pliskova managed, just barely, to make it to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at age 24.
“I’m not anxious about my wrist because I’m practising and playing matches every day”, he explained. “There’s a great connection between the US fans and Argrentina fans”, said del Potro who was handed a wildcard for the US Open after winning the silver medal at the Olympics.
Williams made it that far at Flushing Meadows a year ago, before losing to her younger sister Serena.
Progression to the quarter-finals looked unlikely for the perennially injured Del Potro when he himself received treatment on a shoulder problem just three games into the match and with his opponent already a break up. Sometimes bother me a little bit, but I can deal with that. “And hopefully I can go far in this tournament because I love this atmosphere and I love the crowd and I love to be here in NY”. With Thiem’s retirement, del Potro has only needed 10-plus sets to reach the quarters.
Two-time major champion Stan Wawrinka blew a lead, smashed a racquet and eventually pulled out a four-set victory to reach his fourth straight US Open quarter-final.
On the 25th anniversary of the 174th-ranked Connors’ rousing run to the semis, del Potro, at No. 142 in the world, is a win away from that stage.
Del Potro is aware he needs to hit his backhand better in order to compete against all the best players in the world. ‘I would like to improve my backhand.
The 27-year-old who shocked the world in 2009 beating Rafael Nadal and then Roger Federer to win the US Open, has been out of the title hunt in NY after four wrist surgeries until now.
“I was close to retired before my third surgery”, del Potro said.
Three forehand errors from the Austrian gave back the break in the sixth game.
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A day after the last American man standing, Jack Sock, was eliminated by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, del Potro enjoyed massive crowd support and may well be the crowd favorite for the duration of the tournament.
