During the changeover right before the last game, it suddenly began to rain, and play was delayed only slightly before the shower passed.
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He was also playing in a season-leading 70th match of the season and 21st tournament, a gruelling schedule which finally caught up with him on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I don’t have to be afraid”, she said. I have a different game. “Got a lot of free points with my serve, and that was important”.
“I served one at 145 in San Jose, but the next day”, Murray said with a smile, “they recalibrated the gun because it was completely wrong”.
And the Argentine who hasn’t dropped a set will next face Stan Wawrinka.
Fifth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open for the second straight year with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. It will be torn down after the tournament, with a new venue to be built to replace it. Jimmy Connors was 174th when he made a stirring run to the semifinals in NY at age 39 in 1991. In Wednesday’s quarter-finals, Nishikori, a finalist here in 2014, will face second-seeded Andy Murray. The top seed crushed Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2 6-3 to collect – speaking of milestones – a 308th grand slam win to surpass Roger Federer for the all-time lead. The Japanese was always in control against the big-serving Croat but needed a tie-break to seal the third set.
He was a break to the good at 2-1 in the fourth before Wawrinka, reinvigorated by a violent racquet smash courtside, recovered to win five of the next six games.
“I enjoying even more when I get into the courts than years ago”, del Potro said Monday after getting a retirement from Dominic Thiem. “Excited to play against him and hopefully I can keep going here”. After falling behind 3-2, he took a medical timeout, came back to the court and lasted just one point before retiring.
Thiem’s knee flared up three days earlier from overcompensating for blisters on his foot, and he aggravated it sliding for a return.
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.
Ultimately, injury took down Thiem, who pulled up short clutching at his knee after trying to run down a del Potro shot midway through the second set.
“I’m not anxious about my wrist at the moment because I’m practicing every day”, he said.
“I couldn’t bend my knee too much in the last three days so I was handicapped a little bit”, said Thiem.
But all those victories meant a tour-high 69 matches.
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.
This result will come as a relief to del Potro, who called for the trainer on two occasions to work on his right shoulder. He’s played just 10-plus sets through four rounds. “She gives everything to win all the matches. But I’m OK with my level”, he added.
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NEW YORK-Argentinean fans were singing his name and Juan Martin del Potro answered the chants continuing his comeback chorus. News stories displayed here appear in our category for Sports and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization.
