Lucas Pouille was not prepared to say his pulsating four-hour, fourth-round upset of 14-time Grand Slam victor Rafael Nadal at the US Open on Sunday was a career changing moment.
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“I lost an opportunity to play a great event”, Nadal said after his 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 loss to Frenchman Lucas Pouille in the fourth round on Sunday.
With long-time rival Roger Federer also missing from the US Open to mend a knee injury, Sunday’s defeat for Nadal only adds fuel to the suspicion that their golden era is over.
Wozniacki’s 6-3, 6-4 win over Madison Keys, the number eight seed, might not be that big an upset, but the manner in which Sevastova eased past 13 seed Johanna Konta 6-4, 7-5 was pretty impressive.
Roberta Vinci, of Italy, reacts during her match with Lesia Tsurenko, of Ukraine, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in NY.
It’s the first time since 1947 that three French men have reached the quarter-finals of one Grand Slam. No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and No. 10 Gael Monfils vs.
Wozniacki is a former No. 1 who is ranked only 74th after a tough season that included injuries and zero Grand Slam match wins until last week.
The defending champion had been out of sorts recently following early exits from Wimbledon and the Olympic tournament at Rio 2016 but now appears to be approaching somewhere near his best, marking an ominous sign for the others in the draw.
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.
Having raced through the first two sets in just over an hour, Djokovic sought treatment after surrendering his first service break of the night starting a run of three straight games for Edmund that gave the Briton a 3-2 lead. “I feel great at this moment physically; mentally as well”. “It’s going to be interesting”.
The fourth-round match had a definite grand slam pedigree to it with Kerber, the Australian Open champion, going against twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova but failed to deliver any major excitement. In terms of overall points, the match could not have been closer: both men finished with 156 points.
Monfils, who turned 30 last week, only once before made it to a Grand Slam semifinal, 8½ years ago in front of a partisan crowd at the French Open.
His best runs since have been two quarter-final spots at the 2015 Australian and French Opens. “I didn’t like it actually, so it was OK without picture”. She’s cooked a couple of meals. “To be honest, I gonna hurt myself for people? No”. Older Frenchman faced no break points in the entire match and he broke Lucas 4 times, enough for straight sets win, and he is still to lose a set this year in NY, looking more and more like a true title contender.
Playing for the first time on the 22,000-seat Arthur Ashe stadium, Pouille was energized rather than intimidated.
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Vinci has been dealing with an injured left Achilles tendon – she wore black tape in the shape of a “V” that framed her left calf – and a bad back. Vinci planned to stay off her feet as much as possible Monday. I have no shame to say it. “I can’t count on a miracle, though”.
