Rested Djokovic Coasts Into US Open QFs

For only the second time all tournament long, Novak Djokovic played a full match on Sunday night at the US Open. The top seed showed the rest has only helped.

Djokovic moved into the quarter-finals in New York for the 10^th consecutive year, beating 21 year old Kyle Edmund 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in Arthur Ashe Stadium. In the last eight, the defending champion will face ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the 22^nd time. The Serbian leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 15-6, including 11 of their past 12 meetings. Tsonga advanced to the quarter-finals with a four-set win against American Jack Sock.

“It feels great to play a match,” Djokovic said on court after the contest.

The two-time US Open champion hadn’t played a full match since 29 August, when he beat Pole Jerzy Janowicz 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. Czech left-hander Jiri Vesely withdrew before their second-round match because of inflammation to his left forearm. Djokovic was leading his third-round match against Mikhail Youzhny 4-2 before the Russian retired because of a back injury.

“This particular situation I [have] never had in my Grand Slam career,” Djokovic, a 14-year tour veteran, had said.

But he looked focused from the start against Edmund, who was playing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam championship for the first time. Djokovic gained two breaks and lost only two points on his first serve in the opener. The second set was more of the same, and after a little more than one hour, Djokovic held a two-set lead against Edmund, No. 84 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

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But Edmund blasted his forehand more and made Djokovic worry in the third set. The Brit, who was playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time, fell behind an early break but marched back to lead 3-2 before Djokovic took the final set.

Djokovic’s left wrist, which he said had bothered him last month, looked fine but the 29 year old received treatment on his right arm for the second match of the tournament. Early on in the third set, a trainer massaged Djokovic’s right elbow. A trainer also had treated Djokovic’s right arm during his first-round match.