NOVAK DJOKOVIC, CILIC LOOK TO REACH US OPEN SEMI-FINALS

Written by: Staff on 8th September 2015

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, CILIC LOOK TO REACH US OPEN SEMI-FINALS

epa04916881 Marin Cilic of Croatia hits a return to Jeremy Chardy of France during their match on the seventh day of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 06 September 2015. The US Open runs through 13 September, which is a return to a 14-day schedule. EPA/JUSTIN LANE |

Two spots in the semi-finals of the US Open are on the line Tuesday as we come closer to crowning the final Grand Slam champion of the season. Play begins with reigning champion Marin Cilic putting his 11-match tournament win streak on the line against No. 19 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has held in all 56 of his service games at the US Open. During the night session, World No. 1 and 2011 US Open winner Novak Djokovic faces No. 18 seed Feliciano Lopez, his fifth opponent in as many rounds who has never beaten him before.

In the opening match on Ashe, Cilic continues his campaign for a second straight US Open title when he takes on the red-hot Tsonga. Cilic has won his past three matches and six sets against Tsonga, whose only tour-level victory in their rivalry came at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati four years ago. A return to Flushing Meadows has served the big-serving Cilic well. The Croat came into the US Open with a 4-4 record on hard courts in 2015 and he’s played 14 tournaments since his last final, defeating Roberto Bautista Agut for the Moscow title last October.

Like Cilic, Tsonga missed the Australian Open with a right arm injury and did not make his season debut until March. The Frenchman enters the quarter-finals with holds in all 56 of his service games at the US Open, saving the only two break points he’s faced against Sergiy Stakhovsky in the third round. Tsonga is seeking a semi-final berth at the US Open for the first time in his seventh tournament appearance. He has reached the semi-finals twice at each of the other majors, most recently at Roland Garros earlier this year.

In the evening match, the top-seeded Djokovic plays in his 26th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final, third only in the Open Era to Roger Federer (36) and Jimmy Connors (27). Djokovic is through to the US Open quarters for the ninth consecutive year overall. He is 8-0 in US Open quarter-finals, winning all of those matches in three or four sets. However, only one of Djokovic’s 40 career hard-court titles has come at the US Open. He reigned in 2011, was runner-up four times (2007, ’10, ’12-13), and fell in the semi-finals on three occasions (2008-09, ’14).

As if Djokovic’s dominance in US Open quarter-finals isn’t enough, Lopez must also overcome two other statistical hurdles. The left-handed Spaniard won only one set in five prior matches against Djokovic, who entered the US Open having reached 10 straight finals on tour (longest streak since Federer’s 11 in 2006). Lopez is through to his first US Open quarter-final in his 14th consecutive appearance at Flushing Meadows. A three-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist, Lopez has played 55 Grand Slam events in a row since he was a lucky loser at Roland Garros in 2002. Only Federer (64) and the retired Wayne Ferreira (56) have longer runs in the Open Era.

Forty players over the age of 30 started the US Open and four advanced to the quarter-finals: Lopez (33), Tsonga (30), Stan Wawrinka (30) and Roger Federer (34). The last time that four or more players over the age of 30 reached the US Open quarter-finals was 1982 (Connors, Tom Gullikson, Guillermo Vilas and Kim Warwick). Four members of the ‘30+ Club’ also played in the 2015 Roland Garros quarter-finals: Wawrinka, Tsonga, Federer and David Ferrer. Wawrinka defeated both Federer and Tsonga before beating Djokovic for the title.

The final two US Open quarter-final matches will be played on Wednesday, featuring No. 5 seed Stan Wawrinka against No. 15 seed Kevin Anderson, who owns a 4-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head record. Coming off his four-hour, 18-minute win over World No. 3 Andy Murray on Monday, Anderson seeks a second Top 10 win in the same tournament for the first time in his career. He has won his past four matches against Wawrinka, which have all occurred in the past 18 months with the Swiss ranked in the Top 5.

In Wednesday’s other quarter-final, Roger Federer meets Richard Gasquet. Federer has 14 wins over Gasquet (14-2).

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/djokovic-cilic-look-to-reach-us-open-semifinals )

Topics: Arthur Ashe Stadium, Atp World Tour, Feliciano Lopez, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, Tennis, US Open

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10sBalls_com says:

September 8, 2015 at 10:33 am

-@DjokerNole, @cilic_marin LOOK TO REACH #USOpen SEMI-FINALS- http://t.co/Jiv1TBQKdp #tennis #Djokovic #Cilic #USOpen2015