Djoker, Murray set up blockbuster clash
New York, Sept. 2: Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic kept their time in blazing conditions to a bare minimum on Monday as they breezed into the US Open quarter- finals but Eugenie Bouchard’s hopes of a maiden grand slam title melted away in the heat.
Djokovic charged past Philipp Kohlschreiber 6- 1, 75, 6- 4 to set up a blockbuster meeting with longtime rival Andy Murray, who booked his own place in the last eight with a steamy 7- 5, 7- 5, 6- 4 win over ninth seeded Frenchman Jo- Wilfried Tsonga.
Williams warmed up for her match in the mid- day sun sporting a black dinner jacket over her pink leopard print dress and then turned back the frustrations of a disappointing season at the majors by hammering Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 6- 3, 63.
Gunning for her third consecutive US Open title, Williams made something of a grand slam breakthrough for 2014 by reaching the last eight.
“I finally made a quarterfinal this year!” she shouted to the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd with arms upraised. “Glad to do it in New York.”
Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, 10th seed Kei Nishikori and twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka avoided the worst of the heat by playing under the evening floodlights but they were still made to sweat for their wins.
No one work harder, or longer, for their victory than Japan’s Nishikori, who needed five sets and four hours and 19 minutes to tame fifth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic 4- 6, 7- 6 ( 4), 6- 7 ( 6), 7- 5, 6- 4.
With on- court temperatures hovering near 100 º Fahrenheit, it was another day of survival of the fittest at Flushing Meadows and seventh seed Bouchard was simply not up to the challenge.
The 20- year- old Canadian’s bid for a fourth consecutive Grand Slam semi- final appearance came to a distressing end with a 7- 6 ( 2), 64 loss to Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Sania Mirza stormed into the mixed doubles semifinals besides reaching the doubles quarter- finals, but Leander Paes exited with unexpected defeats in both his events.
Top seeds Sania and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares beat the IndoSlovenian duo of Rohana Bopanna and Katarina Srebotnik 7- 5, 2- 6, 10- 5.
The Hyderabadi made the women’s quarter- finals with Cara Black, defeating Czech- Serbian combine of Klara Koukalova and Jelena Jankovic 6- 3, 6- 2. However, Paes and his experienced doubles partner Radek Stepanek lost to Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 2- 6, 6- 4, 1- 6 in the third round. —
Agencies