Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, smiles at the crowd after beating Jack Sock, of the United States, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in NY.
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Tsonga, a 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-2 victor over the last USA man in the field, No. 26 Jack Sock, now plays No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
And another player from france was in action – Gael Monfils was facing Marcos Baghdatis.in the fourth round.
Sure made for good videos, all those parallel-to-the-court dives or 360-degree smashes or racket-between-the-legs shots.
Nadal had reached the fourth round with minimal fuss and he was favourite to prevail against 24th seed Pouille, who had already gone the distance on two occasions during the opening week at Flushing Meadows.
Afterward, Monfils took a swipe at those who have questioned his methods. You see how well Djokovic moves. “What’s the point to make the show and lose, actually?”
“Mentally I’m stronger, physically I’m stronger”, Pouille said of how his training has changed this season.
Williams, bidding for a record seventh U.S. Open title, will now need to reach the final to have a chance of retaining top spot. Monfils has not dropped a set in the tournament.
After 19 sets and more than 12 hours on court, Pouille couldn’t muster the same kind of energy against Monfils that he had in earlier matches.
Sometimes I couldn’t even hear myself when I was saying ‘Allez, allez, allez.
Although, many eyebrows were raised and it was said that this win of Lucas Pouille was just a fluke. Pouille displayed huge nerve in staging a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) win against Nadal in a four-hour marathon that was decided in the tie-breaker of the fifth set. “I need something more that was not there today”. I put [myself] in a position to have the victor, and I had the mistake. His second- and third-round opponents both withdrew due to injury, so he should be plenty rested and fresh going into Tuesday’s match against Tsonga, the ninth seed.
He has even failed to progress beyond the fourth round in his last five major appearances and his grand slam credentials are certainly up for debate. That seems to be shifting in 2016, and a sharply focused Monfils is 18-2 in matches he’s played since a first-round loss at Wimbledon – including the highest-level tournament title of his career at Washington.
“I couldn’t dream better than this”, said Pouille. “And the lob obviously is the best shot”. I was a break down in the fifth; I came back.
Djokovic, the No. 1 seed and defending champion, once again needed to put in very little work, advancing to the final four at Flushing Meadows for the 10th consecutive year when No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stopped because of a hurt left knee Tuesday night.
He wanted to predict no further than to say the win “will give me a lot of confidence for the next round”.
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Pouille will face Monfils, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victor over 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, who received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct for using his cellphone during a second-set changeover.
