STAN WAWRINKA teed up a US Open quarter-final cracker against Juan Martin del Potro with an often dazzling win over Illya Marchenko.
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Just 15 minutes into the match and Thiem up a break 2-1, it looked like Del Potro might be the player in danger of making an early exit when he called on trainers to work on his right shoulder during the changeover.
Should del Potro make the semi-finals, he would be the lowest-ranked man to do so at a Grand Slam since 237-ranked Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon in 2000.
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.
Halep had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set but got broken.
Initially, it looked like del Potro, who returned to NY ranked No. 142 after recovering from four wrist surgeries, was the player plagued by pain and vulnerable to injury.
Suarez Navarro, seeded 11th, was seeking the sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career.
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.
“There’s a great connection between the US fans and Argentina fans”, said del Potro who was handed a wildcard at the US Open after winning the silver medal at the Olympics.
“I’ve been playing for a really long time, but also, given that consistency up there”. After some poor results in July, Dominic admitted that he made a mistake of playing in that many events and that he is going to change that in the upcoming season, but the damage is already done and he will need some time to recover himself and enter the fall season as fresh as possible.
Somebody noted that at the 2009 U.S. Open, which ended with a victory over Roger Federer in the final, he beat an Argentine, an Austrian and a Spaniard along the way – just as he’s done this year.
“I’m so glad to be part of the last eight, ” del Potro said, adding, “[Any] thing can happen”.
Del Potro’s passage through to the last eight has been relatively straight forward. He played only four matches last year, to Thiem’s 64, and 10 the year before compared with Thiem’s 45.
Del Potro could face third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, who he defeated at Wimbledon, in the quarterfinals.
“I couldn t bend my knee too much in the last three days so I was handicapped a little bit”, said Thiem.
Win or lose on Wednesday, del Potro said he is getting stronger with every match he plays as he rebuilds his career after being on the brink of retirement this year.
Thiem, who turned 23 on Saturday, has had a breakthrough year, reaching the French Open semifinals and cracking the top 10.
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She will be heavily favored to get to 309 against Simona Halep, a 6-2 7-5 victor over Carla Suarez Navarro, in the quarterfinals.
