WORLD NO. 1 NOVAK DJOKOVIC TRYING FOR NINTH STRAIGHT US OPEN QUARTER-FINAL – DAY 7 US OPEN TENNIS NEWS

Written by: Staff on 6th September 2015

WORLD NO. 1 NOVAK DJOKOVIC TRYING FOR NINTH STRAIGHT US OPEN QUARTER-FINAL - DAY 7 US OPEN TENNIS NEWS |

The round of 16 in the top half of the draw on Sunday is headlined by World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 9/reigning champion Marin Cilic. They are the only Top 10 seeds left after three (No. 7 Ferrer, No. 8 Nadal, No. 10 Raonic) were eliminated on Friday. Three of the Open Era tournament record four Frenchmen in the RD 16 still remaining are also on the schedule. No. 19 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on countryman Benoit Paire and No. 27 Jeremy Chardy faces Cilic. The other Frenchman, No. 12 Richard Gasquet, plays on Monday.

In the opening match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Cilic brings a 10-match US Open winning streak against Chardy, who is coming off his first Top 10 win of the season (1-8) over No. 7 Ferrer. Cilic is coming off a five-set marathon win (4h,11m) over Mikhail Kukushkin and he’s trying to reach his fourth career quarter-final at the US Open. Chardy is attempting to advance to his second Grand Slam tournament QF. Two years ago at the Australian Open he upset No. 7 and ’09 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro en route to the QFs (l. to Murray).

Under the lights on Ashe, Djokovic takes a 2-0 record against No. 23 seed Roberto Bautista Agut. Djokovic is trying to reach his 9th straight US Open QF and 26th overall in a Grand Slam tournament, which is 3rd-most in the Open Era (Federer 36, Connors 27). The 28-year-old Serb has not dropped a set thus far and he’s held serve 39 of 41 games. The 27-year-old Spaniard is back in the round of 16 here for the second straight year and he’s trying to reach his first career major quarter-final. Bautista Agut is also attempting to snap a 13-match losing streak vs. Top 10 opponents (3-19 overall).

On Armstrong, Tsonga looks to maintain his perfect record (2-0) against Paire. The 30-year-old Frenchman has played nearly flawless tennis so far, holding all 41 service games. He is trying to reach the quarter-finals here for the first time since 2011. Tsonga has played well against his countrymen in majors, compiling an 11-1 record. Paire, who saved two match points in his 1R five-set win over last year’s runner-up Kei Nishikori, is playing in the round of 16 in a major for the first time. The 26-year-old has climbed from No. 149 on Feb. 2 to No. 41 coming in. In July, he captured his first career ATP World Tour title in Bastad.

In the next match on Armstrong, No. 18 seed Feliciano Lopez and No. 32 Fabio Fognini square off for the first time. Lopez is in the round of 16 here for the first time since 2010 and he’s trying to advance to his fourth career major QF, the first not on grass. His other three came at Wimbledon (2005, ’08, ’11). Fognini is coming off an incredible comeback win against No. 8 Nadal. The Italian rallied from two sets down for the fifth time in his career and posted his first career Top 10 win on hard courts (1-17). Fognini, who was winless on hard courts (0-7) this season coming into the US Open, hit 70 winners in the match. He is the first Italian to reach the round of 16 here since Davide Sanguinetti in 2005. The last Italian to advance to the US Open quarter-finals was Corrado Barazzutti, who was a semi-finalist at Forest Hills in 1977.

Looking ahead to the bottom half of the round of 16 on Monday, No. 2 Roger Federer takes on No. 13 John Isner, who is trying to reach the quarter-finals at the US Open for the first time since 2011. Federer has won four of the previous five meetings. Donald Young, who is back in the round of 16 for the first time since 2011 after rallying from two sets for the second time in the tournament, plays No. 5 Stan Wawrinka for the third time (tied 1-1). Young won the first meeting here in the 2R in ’11 in a fifth set tie-break. This is the first time two Americans are in RD16 since 2012. The other matches are No. 6 Tomas Berdych vs. No. 12 Richard Gasquet and No. 15 Kevin Anderson vs. No. 3 Andy Murray-No. 30 Thomaz Bellucci winner.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/djokovic-versus-bautista-agut-headlines-day-7-at-us-open-2015 )

Topics: 10sballs.com, 2015 U.S. Open, Atp World Tour, Novak Djokovic, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

September 6, 2015 at 9:29 am

WORLD NO. 1 @DjokerNole TRYING FOR NINTH STRAIGHT #USOpen QUARTER-FINAL – DAY 7 @usopen #TENNIS NEWS- http://t.co/Xgy37e1V8C #USOpen2015