Agencies
New York, Sept 6: It was the ‘Labour Day’ holiday Monday in the United States but Andy Murray came to Arthur Ashe Stadium ready to work, demolishing Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to storm into the quarterfinals of the US Open. To top it all, he did not have to labour much for victory.
Murray dispatched the 22nd seed in just two hours, signalling he is well prepared to extend a dream summer that has included a second Wimbledon title and a second Olympic gold medal.
Murray rated the match, which included a career-fastest 141-mph ace to close out the first set, as one of his best this season. “It was definitely up there,” said Murray. “I played very well today (Monday) with very few unforced errors and made it very tough for Grigor.”
Dimitrov held his first serve but Murray then tore through the next five, wrapping up the set in 30 minutes and capping it off with a blistering ace.
The Scotsman broke Dimitrov twice to open the second and take a 3-0 lead, then broke the Bulgarian again to open the third, never giving him a chance to get back into the match.
Next up for Murray is Japan’s Olympic bronze medallist Kei Nishikori, a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) winner over Ivo Karlovic. The Japanese cut down the towering Croat with surgical precision.
Meanwhile double Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka set up a marquee quarterfinal showdown with 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over Illya Marchenko of Ukraine. Del Potro entered the last eight stage after his French opponent, Dominic Thiem retired with an injured knee with the score reading 6-3, 3-2.
“It’s going to be great to play (Del Potro),” Wawrinka said in an on-court interview. “He beat me this year at Wimbledon. He’s back after so many injuries, so it’s good to see him playing so well again. Hopefully, I come out laughing this time around.
Serena continues her record-breaking spree
Serena Williams stormed into the US Open women’s quarterfinals in record-smashing style here Monday by easing past Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 to claim her record 308th Grand Slam (GS) match win.
The World No.1 needed just 68 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium court to overwhelm the 52nd-ranked Shvedova and surpass Roger Federer on the all-time list of matches won at tennis’s four blue riband events.
“Oh wow, it is really exciting, this is where it all started so it is always so magical out here for me but 308 sounds pretty good,” Serena said after moving a step closer to a record seventh US Open title. “I just think winning 308 matches in general is pretty awesome. It’s a huge number, something that just really talks about the length of my career.”
Next up for Serena is Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep, who beat 11th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 7-5. But Karolina Pliskova ruined any chance of another Flushing Meadows sister showdown as she claimed a dramatic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over sixth-seeded Venus Williams. If Venus had this match and also the quarters, she would have had a showdown with her younger sister.
Sania-Strycova in last 8
Sania Mirza and Barbara Strycova produced a solid performance against Nicole Gibbs and Nao Hibino to reach the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the US Open here Monday.
The Indo-Czech combine completed a 6-4, 7-5 win over the American-Japanese duo in the third round match. They now play the top- seeded French duo of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the quarterfinals.
Sania is the sole Indian left in the tournament after Rohana Bopanna and Leander Paes exited the competition.
Earlier in the day, Bopanna and his partner Gabriela Dabrowski fought hard before losing their mixed doubles quarterfinals against Canadian Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-1, 2-6, 8-10.
Bopanna and Dabrowski squandered a set advantage to lose a contest that lasted 58 minutes.
