Britain’s Andy Murray says he did not give US Open opponent Grigor Dimitrov a chance, dropping only five games to set up a quarter-final match with Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori.
Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares have secured qualification for the ATP World Tour Finals doubles event at the 02 in London in November.
The pair ensured their place by winning their third-round match at the US Open against Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell 6-3 7-6 (9-7).
Murray, who was world doubles number one earlier this year, won the Australian Open with Soares in January.
This year’s event runs from 13-20 November.
Soares and Murray lost in the Wimbledon quarter-finals and went out in the third round at the French Open.
But the pair won the Sydney International before the Australian Open and also reached ATP Tour finals in Monte Carlo and Toronto.
Murray, 30, will be making his second consecutive London appearance.
Last year, he and partner John Peers were eliminated in the group stage.
The tournament sees the top eight ranked pairings split into two groups with the top two from each pool making the semi-finals.
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Top seed will look to reach final four in New York
A two-time US Open champion and a trio of Frenchman will battle it out on Tuesday for two of the four semi-final spots at the US Open.
Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic will continue his pursuit of a third US Open title when he meets ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Djokovic had spent just three hours and eight minutes on court in reaching the fourth round, thanks to a walkover and a withdrawal, but he showed glimpses of his best in a straight-sets rout of Kyle Edmund.
Read More: Rested Djokovic Coasts Into QFs
Tsonga is through to the quarter-finals, his 14th at Grand Slam level, for the second straight year. Only once has he progressed to a Grand Slam final and the man who would deny him at the 2008 Australian Open was the Serbian he next faces. Tsonga was impressive in dismissing Jack Sock in the fourth round but has beaten Djokovic only six times in 21 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.
Whoever the victor, a Frenchman will await in the semi-finals with 10th seed Gael Monfils and 24th seed Lucas Pouille to clash. Monfils, enjoying his most consistent season to date, won his biggest ATP World Tour title at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. leading in. He has rolled through his first four matches without losing a set, comfortably dismissing Marcos Baghdatis in the fourth round. Pouille is coming off his biggest career win, a five-set upset of two-time former champion Rafael Nadal.
Read More: Pouille Shocks Nadal In New York
It marks Pouille’s second straight Grand Slam quarter-final, and he will be looking to avenge defeat from his only prior match-up with Monfils, a five-setter in the first round of this year’s Australian Open.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic can move one step closer to his thirteenth grand slam on Tuesday with a victory over Jo-Wilfried…
France are guaranteed a man in the semi-finals of the US Open 2016 after Gael Monfils and Lucas Pouille made impressive…
British-Brazilian duo London-bound
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares have qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November. Murray/Soares won their third-round match at the US Open against Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell 6-3, 7-6(7). Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau’s third-round loss earlier in the day ensured that the British-Brazilian team would qualify for the prestigious year-end championship.
Murray/Soares are currently No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. The 2016 Australian Open champions (d. Nestor/Stepanek) own two team titles (2016 Sydney) and have reached the finals of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Toronto and Monte Carlo this year.
Murray will be making his second consecutive London appearance. Last year, he and partner John Peers were eliminated in the group stage. Soares qualified for London in 2013 and 2014 alongside Alexander Peya. They reached the semi-finals (l. to Bryan/Bryan) in 2013.
| US Open |
|---|
| Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 29 August-11 September |
| Coverage: Live commentary on Radio 5 live sports extra plus live text on the big matches on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Britain’s Andy Murray dropped only five games as he thrashed Bulgarian 22nd seed Grigor Dimitrov to reach the quarter-finals at the US Open.
Murray, the second seed, won 6-1 6-2 6-2 and goes on to face Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori in the last eight.
The Scot, 29, was below his best against Paolo Lorenzi in the previous round but superb against Dimitrov.
Juan Martin del Potro and Stan Wawrinka will meet in the other quarter-final in Murray’s half of the draw.
Swiss third seed Wawrinka saw off Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 6-4 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3, while Argentina’s 2009 champion Del Potro led Dominic Thiem 6-3 3-2 when the Austrian retired with a knee injury.
Nishikori was impressive in a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win over Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic.
In the men’s doubles, Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares beat Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell 6-3 7-6 (9-7) to reach the last eight.
| US Open men’s quarter-finals | |
|---|---|
| Novak Djokovic (Ser) [1] v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) [9] | Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) v Stan Wawrinka (Swi) [3] |
| Lucas Pouille (Fra) [24] v Gael Monfils (Fra) [10] | Kei Nishikori (Jpn) [6] v Andy Murray (GB) [2] |
Dimitrov had won their only meeting this year in Miami and came into the match talking of a return to form, but he troubled Murray for barely a handful of points.
The Bulgarian capitalised on some second serves to earn two break points in the opening game but could do nothing about two big Murray serves.
For the next 50 minutes it was one-way traffic, Murray setting the tone in a pulsating 32-stroke rally as he broke serve for 3-1 and went on an eight-game winning streak.
With serves regularly nudging the 140mph mark backed up by thunderous groundstrokes, Murray surged into a 6-1 3-0 lead, and even when Dimitrov finally stopped the rot with a service break, he returned it immediately with a double fault.
There was no respite for Dimitrov in the third set, which began with Murray winning another gruelling rally on his way to an early break and saving two break points with more huge serving.
Despite his utter dominance, the Scot remained fired up and continued to urge himself on, fizzing a spectacular running cross-court forehand winner past Dimitrov to break for the seventh time.
With just one game required, Murray still found time to argue with umpire Carlos Ramos at the changeover about spectators moving between points, while a brief rain shower passed overhead.
Nothing was going to distract Murray, however, and after a brief delay he came out to complete the demolition job in just over two hours.
Murray’s first-serve percentage was an underwhelming 53% against Dimitrov – but the pace on show was a notable step up for the Wimbledon champion.
His fastest serve of the night clocked 141mph, which appears to be his quickest ever as the Grand Slam facilities allow for more accurate measurement than at other tournaments.
“I served one at 145 in San Jose [in 2007] and the next day they recalibrated the gun because it was completely wrong,” said Murray.
“Tonight is the fastest serve I’ve hit. I only did it once – I think it was luck.”
A LOOK BACK
Wind Energy Holding Bangkok Open (Bangkok, Thailand): In a rematch of the final in Winnipeg, Canada, two months ago, Blaz Kavcic exacted revenge on Go Soeda. Nearly 8,000 miles away in Bangkok, the Slovenian reached the finish line when Soeda retired down 6-0, 1-0 due to a lower back injury. Kavcic continued his surge up the Emirates ATP Rankings after falling outside the Top 400 following foot surgery at the start of the year. He is projected to rise to inside the Top 250 next Monday. The 29 year old claimed the title, his 14th on the ATP Challenger Tour, without dropping a set.
Aberto do Parana de Tenis (Curitiba, Brazil): Eighth-seed Agustin Velotti needed just 73 minutes to dispatch home hope Andre Ghem 6-0, 6-4 on Sunday, claiming the inaugural title in Curtibia. Velotti continued Argentina’s dominance of the ATP Challenger Tour this year, earning the nation’s 11th title. Argentines are 11-5 in finals, with seven different players lifting trophies. It was Velotti’s first crown in more than three years, having previously won on the clay of Rio de Janeiro in 2013. He is projected to return to the Top 200 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.
Torneo Citta di Como (Como, Italy): Kenny De Schepper notched his fifth ATP Challenger Tour title and first on clay, defeating Marco Cecchinato 2-6, 7-6(0), 7-5 on Sunday in Como. The Frenchman rallied from a set down in both the quarter-finals and final. He is pushing towards a Top 100 return after dropping out of the Top 150 in January.
A LOOK AHEAD
The prestigious AON Open Challenger in Genova, Italy, is back, with Nicolas Almagro, Jerzy Janowicz, Denis Istomin and #NextGen star Elias Ymer key names in the draw. The tournament won co-Tournament of the Year on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2014. Also on the schedule this week are events in South America – Barranquilla, Colombia – and Asia – Shanghai, China. Diego Schwartzman and Jordan Thompson are the respective top seeds. Meanwhile, in Sevilla, Spain, teens Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud look to go far and Top 100 players Robin Haase and Sergiy Stakhovsky are in action in Alphen, The Netherlands, and Saint-Remy, France.
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Former champion through to quarter-finals
Juan Martin del Potro’s dream comeback to Flushing Meadows continued on Monday as he advanced to the US Open quarter-finals.
World No. 142 del Potro, who was given a wild card into the main draw, is the lowest-ranked US Open quarter-finalist since the 174th-ranked Jimmy Connors 25 years ago.
The Argentine advanced when Dominic Thiem was forced to retire from their fourth-round clash due to a right leg injury. Del Potro was leading 6-3, 3-2 with a break in the second set.
The 27-year-old del Potro is playing in New York for the first time since 2013. The Tandil native captured his only Grand Slam championship at the US Open in 2009 (d. Federer), but since then his career has been blighted by wrist injuries.
Del Potro played just four matches and underwent two operations on his left wrist in 2015, before making his return to the ATP World Tour in February of this year. In his first tournament back he reached the semi-finals in Delray Beach (l. to Querrey) and last month he clinched the silver medal at the Rio Olympics, playing Andy Murray in the final.
Del Potro is yet to drop a set at the US Open, dispatching Diego Schwartzman, Steve Johnson and David Ferrer. The right-hander is bidding to reach his first major semi-final since Wimbledon 2013 (l. to Djokovic) and goes on to challenge Stan Wawrinka or Illya Marchenko.
Del Potro is set to return to the Top 100 in the Top 65 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after the US Open for the first time since 27 October, 2014.
The 23-year-old Thiem was through to the US Open fourth round for the second time after edging Pablo Carreno Busta on his 23rd birthday on Saturday. The Austrian remains in strong contention to make his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals later in the year.
“It was the knee,” said Thiem. “I had some problems with blisters, and maybe because of the compensation the knee started to hurt. I’m going to do an MRI now in the next couple of hours, and then I will have more information about it.
“From the end of the first set, beginning of the second set, it got worse and worse. No other choice.”