The Malta Independent on Sunday
Djokovic gets a second free pass when Youzhny quits
Tennis - US Open ● Sock overwhelms 2014 Open champ Cilic to reach 4th round ● Memorable ‘tweener lob helps Nadal get to 4th round ● Kerber ends American teen’s US Open in 3rd round
Thanks to injuries to two opponents, Novak Djokovic did not exactly need to put in much work to reach the US Open’s fourth round for the 10th consecutive year.
So it made sense that the defending champion and No. 1 seed would spend extra time practicing in Arthur Ashe Stadium under the watchful eye of coach Boris Becker on Friday after spending a grand total of 31 minutes of match time on court over the second and third rounds.
Yes, Djokovic got another free pass at Flushing Meadows, advancing this time when Mikhail Youzhny stopped because of a strained left hamstring while trailing 4-2 after a little more than a half-hour of play.
Youzhny received treatment from a trainer early on, getting his left leg wrapped, but briefly tried to continue. After holding serve in the sixth game, closing it with an overhead putaway up at the net, the Russian — a semifinalist in New York in 2006 and 2010, and a former top-10 player now ranked 61st — shook his head and told the chair umpire he couldn’t keep going.
Djokovic did not play at all on Wednesday, when the man he was supposed to face in the second round, Jiri Vesely, withdrew from the tournament a couple of hours before that match because of inflammation in his left forearm.
And that he did, changing out of his white collared match shirt into a gray T-shirt and getting in about an hour of training. As Becker stood nearby, tossing over tennis balls, Djokovic hit serve after serve. Then he hit return after return of serves from a practice partner.
A few hundred fans remained in the stands at Ashe, enjoying that rare chance for an up-close look at a man who has won 12 Grand Slam titles, including two at the US Open and two this year. Plenty of cellphone photos were taken.
Djokovic arrived in New York with a sore left wrist. But in his first-round victory way back on Monday, he experienced problems with his right arm. He was massaged by a trainer after only five games, then repeatedly shook that arm or flexed his elbow and grimaced following serves, some of which were far slower than he usually hits. He also dropped a set in an opening-round Grand Slam match for the first time since 2010.
On Sunday, maybe he’ll finally get a chance to test how he feels. He will be scheduled to play 84thranked Kyle Edmund of Britain for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Sock overwhelms 2014 Open champ Cilic to reach 4th round
Before Jack Sock took on 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic in the third round, the 23-year-old American acknowledged that, as of a couple of years ago, simply making it that far would have made him, to use two of his words, “satisfied” and “excited.”
Now Sock wants more. He thinks his game and his mindset are ready for deep Grand Slam runs. And the way he overwhelmed the No. 7-seeded Cilic 64, 6-3, 6-3 in a little more than 1 1/2 hours on Friday to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time, who would doubt Sock?
Against Cilic, who followed up his title with a semifinal appearance a year ago, Sock won all 14 of his service games, never facing so much as one break point. Not much of a surprise there on a hard court for a guy whose game is best known for two parts — “‘serving and forehand’ is what I hear all the time,” he said with a hint of a smirk.
But on this windy afternoon, Sock showed off other improving parts of his repertoire. Sure, he delivered 10 forehand winners, but he also produced four on the backhand side (Cilic only had two). And as good as his serving was, with a top speed of 138 mph and 86 percent of first-serve points won, Sock’s returns were in fine form, too: He broke Cilic four times.
Sock’s second career appearance in the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament — the other came at the 2015 French Open on clay — will come against No. 9 JoWilfried Tsonga of France. Tsonga, the runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open, moved on Friday with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 23 Kevin Anderson.
Other men into the round of 16 included No. 1-seeded and defending champion Novak Djokovic, No. 10 Gael Monfils, No. 24 Lucas Pouille, and 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who ended the careerbest showing of American qualifier Ryan Harrison by beating him 6-3, 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-1.
At night, Rafael Nadal produced a spectacular ‘tweener lob with his back to the net on the next-to-lastpoint of his 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Andrey Kuznetsov. Nadal returned to the fourth round at the US Open for the first time since winning the 2013 title.
That was followed by the day’s last match, No. 2 Angelique Kerber’s 6-1, 6-1 victory over 17-yearold American CiCi Bellis.
Djokovic did not expend much energy yet again, playing for only 31 minutes before his opponent, Mikhail Youzhny, stopped because of a strained left hamstring while trailing 4-2. On Wednesday, the man Djokovic was supposed to play in the second round, Jiri Vesely, withdrew before the match even began because of an arm injury.
That will be against 84th-ranked Kyle Edmund of Britain, who never even had been as far as the third round at a major tournament until this week. The 21-yearold Edmund will play Djokovic with a quarterfinal berth on the line after getting past 20th-seeded John Isner of the US 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Friday’s most stirring turnaround came in Ashe in the afternoon, when No. 8 Madison Keys of the US was down 5-1 in the third set before edging Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka 7-5, 4-6, 76 (3).
Asked whether she considered this the top comeback of her young career, the 21-year-old Keys replied: “For sure. Hands down.”
She’ll now face two-time US Open runner-up and former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, whose ranking is all the way down to 74th after a series of losses and injuries but followed up her win over 2004 champion and No. 9 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova by defeating Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-1.
Other women who won included No. 7 Roberta Vinci, who stopped Serena Williams’ Grand Slam bid a year ago in New York, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, No. 13 Johanna Konta and Anastasija Sevastova, the player who beat French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the second round. No. 12 Dominika Cibulkova lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Lesia Tsurenko.
Both Vinci, the 2012 US Open doubles champion, and Wozniacki credited their past success at Flushing Meadows with helping them now.
Kerber ends American teen’s US Open in 3rd round
Second-seeded Angelique Kerber ended 17-year-old American qualifier CiCi Bellis’ stay at the US Open in the third round.
Kerber, who has a chance to overtake Serena Williams at No. 1 in the rankings at tournament’s end, beat Bellis 6-1, 6-1 in Friday’s last match in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
This was Kerber’s tour-leading 50th match victory of 2016. She won the Australian Open in January for her first Grand Slam title, then was the runner-up to Williams at Wimbledon in July. The German’s best showing at Flushing Meadows was reaching the semifinals in 2011.
Kerber will face two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova on Sunday for a quarterfinal berth.
The 158th-ranked Bellis had some chances to get into Friday’s match, including two break points in the opening game and three more later in the first set. But she failed to convert any of those.
Memorable ‘tweener lob helps Nadal get to 4th round
The ‘tweener lob Rafael Nadal somehow conjured up to get to match point was so spectacular, he was asked whether he’d ever before hit a shot quite like that.
This one certainly was memorable, providing quite a flourish at the end of a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over 47th-ranked Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia on Friday night that put Nadal back in the US Open’s fourth round for the first time since winning the 2013 title.
The owner of 14 Grand Slam trophies, including two at Flushing Meadows, Nadal hadn’t been to the fourth round at any major tournament since the 2015 French Open.
This season, he lost in the first round of the Australian Open.