Ironically, doubts have surrounded Djokovic’s own physical well-being during the US Open – he was nursing a wrist complaint at the start of the week which has now been given plenty of extra rest due to Vesely and Youzhny’s withdrawals.
Advertisement
Defending champion Novak Djokovic overcame an arm injury scare and long-time rival Rafael Nadal shone in 33-degree heat as the US Open showcased its 650 million upgrade on Monday.
“This particular situation I never had in my Grand Slam career”.
Caroline Wozniacki continued to flourish at Flushing Meadows after she defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-3 6-1 to reach the last 16 at NY. He received his second walkover after his opponent Mikhail Youzhny pulled out, owing to injury after just six games to allow the Serb a place in the fourth round.
Ranked number 61 in the world, Youzhny has the talent to cause some issues, winning three games against Djokovic in the past.
“I don’t know in which kind of level I am”, said the fourth-seeded Spaniard, who takes on 24th-seed Lucas Pouille of France.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard defeated Andreas Seppi 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the third round, where he will take on Andrey Kuznetsov of Russian Federation.
“I think I am at a time where I also understand my sport better, understand myself better so for me, it’s for sure a different approach”. “I work more or less on every aspect of my game”. “I’m looking forward to compete”.
And that he did, changing out of his white collared match shirt into a gray T-shirt and getting in about an hour of training. Then he hit return after return of serves from a practice partner.
A former U.S. Open champion, Nadal looked fairly comfortable in his opening match against Denis Istomin, dropping only seven games.
Raonic, considered as a potential title dangerman in NY, hit 69 winners but committed 62 unforced errors.
In Djokovic’s first-round victory way back on Monday, he experienced problems with his right arm.
NADAL VS. POUILLE: Rafael Nadal has been playing about as well as can be so far in NY heading into his match against No. 24 Lucas Pouille of France, dropping only 20 games – his lowest total through three matches at the U.S. Open, which he won in 2010 and 2013. “Sometimes a loss like this can prove very valuable”, said Sitak. “If I can just go out and keep producing, then good things will happen”. “I had this virus which stopped me for quite a while, too much, but I feel good”.
On Sunday, maybe he’ll finally get a chance to test how he feels.
Advertisement
After receiving a walkover from Czech Jiri Vasely in the second round, Djokovic will next face 21-year-old Briton Kyle Edmund, who upset 20th seed American John Isner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) with a quarter-final berth at stake.
