“You can be the best, but one match is enough, you know”.
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Rafael Nadal was upset in the U.S. Open’s fourth round by 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) on Sunday, prolonging the 14-time Grand Slam title winner’s quarterfinal drought at major tournaments. Later, when a reporter asked why he asked for the medical visit, Djokovic said with a smile, “I needed a little bit of a massage”. Had the right attitude. “I couldn’t believe he would miss it”, Pouille said of a key shot in the final set tiebreaker. “But I need something else”.
“I fought right up to the last ball but something more was not there today”. That he’s done it by playing only two complete matches because three opponents pulled out of the tournament with injuries is as odd as can be. Pouille has improved plenty since that contest, as recent results would indicate but he still managed to pick up the first two sets.
This was Pouille’s third career victory in a five-setter; all have come in his past three matches.
All in all, Murray is on a 26-1 run since losing the French Open final to Djokovic in June, collecting the Queen’s Club, Wimbledon and Olympic titles on the way.
Rafael Nadal insists he is still capable of challenging for grand slams despite his surprise fourth-round loss to Lucas Pouille at the US Open.
“It took everything”, Pouille said on court afterwards. Evans held a match point at 6-5 in the fourth-set tiebreaker, but Wawrinka erased it, then took that set and raced to a 4-0 lead in the fifth.
Even with the extra rest, however, he required on-court treatment on his right arm – the same one he had treated during his scrappy first-round victory over Jerzy Janowicz.
Normally, it takes wins in five full matches to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. I knew if I wanted to win that, it’s not going to be like three sets, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Then, trailing 6-5, and serving at love-40, Vinci was called for a foot fault on a second serve.
Nadal, victor of 14 Grand Slam titles, then hit back and that pattern continued as the match headed into a decider.
But he was the one who blinked at 6-6.
I put myself in a position to have the victor and I had the mistake.
If Pouille, a 22-year-old Frenchman looking for the biggest win of his life, had not had the nerve to convert his other three match points, perhaps he would fail to do it here, too.
You can not go insane thinking about these kind of things.
But the Wimbledon quarter-finalist prised his way back into the match and it was Nadal who faltered in the tie-break, netting a short forehand at 6-6 to hand his opponent a fourth and fatal chance to close out the match. Pouille won on the next point with a forehand blast up the left side.
“It is never over until the last point”.
“I have the motivation to keep working”, he said.
The first two sets of their quarterfinal went Djokovic’s way, 6-3, 6-2. “It’s never done until the last point is over”.
When it ended, Pouille dropped on his back, his tongue sticking out.
It marks just the second time Monfils has reached the last four at a grand slam, and first since the 2008 French Open.
His next matchup is against No. 10 seed Gael Monfils, who earlier Sunday defeated Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Essentially, Monfils plays tennis and has a lot of fun doing it. He will now meet either top seed Novak Djokovic or Briton Kyle Edmund in the quarter final.
Kerber will face Italy’s Roberta Vinci for a spot in the semi-finals. The American lost to Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in just under an hour an 20 minutes.
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Anastasija Sevastova also reached the quarterfinals after she beat British 13th seed Johanna Konta 6-4, 7-5.
