Men’s and Women’s Tennis News

Written by: Staff on 4th September 2013

Men's and Women's Tennis News

epa03849797 Serena Williams of the US serves to Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain during their quarterfinals round match on the ninth day of the 2013 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 03 September 2013. The US Open runs through Monday 09 September, a 15-day schedule for the first time. EPA/JASON DECROW |

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

* Hewitt blows break leads against Youzhny in fourth, fifth sets, stays below #50.

* Berdych falls to Wawrinka, loses chance to build lead over Federer

* No problem for Djokovic against Granollers

* Murray advances despite slow start

* Peya, Soares clinch #3, #4 doubles rankings

TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS

U. S. Open

Djokovic hammered Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 and booked a place in the quarter-finals, putting on one of his best tennis performances. The Serb is fighting to hold onto his top ranking against Rafael Nadal. He will face Mikhail Youzhny after the Russian beat 2001 winner Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 in a four-hour epic.

Djokovic stormed through in less than 90 minutes against Granollers, who was coming off three five-set matches. The Serb top seed reached his 18th straight grand slam quarter-final and has not lost in the fourth round of a major since January, 2007 in Australia.

Djokovic ripped 34 winners to just eight for his Spanish opponent, who lost the first 25 points on Djokovic’s serve. “I’ve played one of the best matches of my life. I played a flawless tennis”, said the winner. “This comes at a great time for me. I wanted to be more aggressive as the tournament progressed and to be able to stay committed to play every point, to win every point, regardless of what’s the score. “I’m very happy with my mental state, how I feel physically, and the way I played.”

Stanislas Wawrinka flew the flag for Switzerland after the exit of Roger Federer, beating Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 to set up a meeting in the last eight with holder Andy Murray, who had his difficulties with Denis Istomin in a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win. Murray leads Wawrinka 8-5 but lost to the Swiss in the 2010 New York third round as well as last spring on clay in Monaco.

Youzhny rallied from deficits in the fourth and fifth sets to hold off Hewitt, who suffered a huge disappointment after leading 4-1 in the fourth set. “It’s obviously disappointing to lose, but I left it all out there. There’s not a whole heap more I could have done. It obviously could have gone either way. There was a lot of momentum changes, yeah, right from the start,” said the Australian. Hewitt had been seeking his first New York quarter-final since 2006.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

* Ivanovic loses tough match to Azarenka, will fall out of Top Fifteen

* No Top Twenty spot for Makarova after three-set loss to Li

* Suarez Navarro can’t even put pressure on Serena, still makes Top Fifteen

* Vesnina, Errani/Vinci, Petrova still in hunt for doubles #1

TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS

U. S. Open

Serena Williams inflicted a double bagel on birthday girl Carla Suarez Navarro as the Spaniard celebrated her 25th birthday. It was only the second 6-0, 6-0 in the Open quarter-finals. The first was in 1989, when No. 2 Martina Navratilova crushed No. 7 Manuela Maleeva, 6-0, 6-0.

China’s Li Na was made to work as she booked the first of the semi-final spots and became the first Chinese to get this far at Flushing Meadows. The fifth seed lost a 4-2 lead in the second-set tiebreaker against Ekaterina Makarova before prevailing in their quarter-final 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.

In a concluding fourth-round contest postponed by rain 24 hours earlier, second seed Victoria Azarenka needed a wake-up call after sleeping through the opening set to complete her 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Serb Ana Ivanovic to reach the quarter-finals. She will now face Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.

Azarenka missed on three match points as Ivanovic saved two in the ninth game of the final set and one more in the tenth game. Azarenka finally won as Ivanovic sent a return into the net to end it after two hours, 10 minutes.

The pair combined for 17 double-faults but only produced six aces. Azarenka broke nine times while losing her own serve on seven occasions in the momentum-shifting contest. “Ana came out firing,” said Azarenka, who won her fourth match in a row in the series to now stand 5-2. “She played amazing in the first set; I felt out of place. I was sleeping and she was ripping winners, serving great. I had to wake up in the second after the first slipped away. I was more determined and focused on taking my opportunities.”

Topics: 10sballs, Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray, Atp, Daniela Hantuchova, Li Na, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis, US Open, Victoria Azarenka, Wta