Wedneday’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.
Advertisement
He added: “There is a long way for me right now to get back to number one but I’m doing my best to just play my best tennis and have fun with it”. Pouille never had won a U.S. Open match or any match that lasted five sets until last week; his 4-hour-plus win against Nadal on Sunday was his third five-setter in a row.
Dictating from the baseline, Monfils took charge with seven of his 13 aces in the opening set, gaining the only break he needed in the seventh game.
“I dive because I want to win the point”.
A hard year for Wozniacki, who meets Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals, has seen the 26-year-old Dane fall to No74 in the world rankings, but this has always been her favourite tournament and the former world No1 has twice finished runner-up here.
Djokovic has been nursing a couple of injuries himself, and began the tournament having problems with his left wrist and right elbow.
For years, the book on Gael Monfils was that he was supremely talented, yes – and also more interested in producing an entertaining display than an effective one.
Monfils, 30, maintained his momentum either side of a 15-minute rain delay to secure his first Grand Slam semi-final appearance since the 2008 French Open.
Djokovic was nearly assuredly going to win Tuesday’s match regardless of the retirement, but it saved his legs another set or two of action.
It will be Djokovic’s ninth consecutive semifinal at the Open.
In the same event, it was also tough for Djokovic, but he was able to pull the game off and win the second set with three quick points. In the 2009 U.S. Open semifinals, Williams was angered by the same type of call: a foot fault that resulted in a double-fault; in that instance, it set up match point for her opponent, Kim Clijsters.
Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils meet in the semifinals of the 2016 US Open.
Andy Murray contests his sixth US Open quarter-final on Wednesday looking to maintain his stranglehold over Kei Nishikori and take a step closer to a dream title showdown with Novak Djokovic.
The two-time runner-up, ranked a lowly 74 after an injury-hit campaign, eased to a 6-0, 6-2 win and will face second seed Angelique Kerber for a place in Saturday’s final.
The Dane will now face number two seed Angelique Kerber in the semis following the German’s straight sets success over Italy’s Roberta Vinci.
Advertisement
STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN Djokovic [1] bt Tsonga [9] 6-3 6-2 ret. Only two of his matches have gone the minimum distance of three sets, with a walkover and two retirements. “I think it is never easy to play quarter-final against a French guy, I think I handled it pretty good mentally and tennistically”.
