Wozniacki is a two-time U.S. Open runner-up, at least.
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2015 Australian Open – lost quarterfinals to Tomas Berdych.
At Wimbledon previous year, he fell to Germany’s Dustin Brown who was outside the top 100 at the time.
This is the first time since 2003 that neither Federer nor Nadal is in a US Open quarterfinal, a sign of changing times in men’s tennis. The two-time victor of the US Open (2010 and 2013) entered the 2016 US Open as one of the favorites to win the tournament.
2016 Wimbledon – did not play. His resume still does not include an ATP Tour title, he did not make the cut for the French Rio Olympic team and previous year failed to make it past the first round of the U.S. Open.
Nadal was all praise for his young opponent.
Nadal saved them all to make it 6-6, and looked set to pull off a miracle when his forehand found the net to fall kindly for Pouille to smash it home. “You need to be auto-critic”, – Nadal knows what he has to do to get back to his best.
From there, the two men took turns winning sets, forcing the match into a fifth and decisive one.
Two-time US Open champion Rafael Nadal was ousted by 22-year-old Frenchman Lucas Pouille from this year’s tournament in a five set thriller 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 Sunday.
“When I was a kid, of course I was dreaming to winning slams and being one day number one”, admitted Kerber. Had the right attitude. I needed something else. “I really wanted to start the match well today”, Djokovic said, “because I didn’t have much time on the court overall before the fourth round, and considering I had some struggles before the tournament”.
The 2010 and 2013 champion failed to drop a set in the opening three rounds, but lost to the number 24 seed in four sets.
Nadal saved three match points in a pulsating final-set tie-break, but could not avert the fourth as Pouille triumphed 6-1 2-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8/6).
Although, many eyebrows were raised and it was said that this win of Lucas Pouille was just a fluke.
This was Pouille’s third career victory in a five-setter – and all have come in his past three matches.
“I’m looking forward”, the 22-year-old said, and well he might after prevailing in a scintillating fifth-set tiebreaker over Nadal, a player he’s admired since his youth. He lost in the first round of the Australian Open, then withdrew after the second round at Roland Garros with a wrist injury that forced him to miss Wimbledon.
But victory over Nadal is nothing short of sensational, and it sets up a tough-but-winnable meeting with compatriot Gaël Monfils in the quarter-finals.
In a marathon tussle at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the Frenchman and the Spanish fourth seed traded ferocious blows from the back of the court, with Pouille taking the advantage early on.
Soon enough, they were in the tiebreaker, with Pouille holding his first three match points at 6-3.
Nadal then dumped his forehand into the net before Pouille struck a decisive forehand victor down the line on the next point to seal the victory. Anyone’s match to win. “I congratulate my opponent, he played with better decisions than me the last couple of points”. “I took my own physical trainer”.
Now 30, Nadal is into that awkward, graying area of a career when his presence at a major creates more sentimental enthusiasm than realistic hopes for a title. “That’s it. You can not go insane thinking about these kind of things, no?”
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‘I couldn’t believe he would miss it.
