Thiem sets up Nadal rematch

Kevin Anderson won’t get a second shot at Rafael Nadal in the US Open.

The 2017 runner-up was beaten by No 9 seed Dominic Thiem, of Austria, 7-5 6-2 7-6 (2) yesterday in a fourth-round match.

Anderson was hoping to earn a rematch with Nadal, who beat him last year in the South African’s first grand slam final. Instead, it will be the ninthseeded Thiem who will face Nadal in the quarterfinals after the Spaniard took four sets to get past Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.

The top-ranked Nadal defeated Basilashvili 6-3 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-4 to set up a rematch of his victory over Thiem in the French Open final. It will be their first meeting not on clay. Nadal leads the series 7-3.

The top-ranked Spaniard improved to 8-2 in fourth-round matches in the US Open, rebounding from dropping the tiebreaker in the third set to break the Georgian’s serve twice in the fourth set.

American John Isner used a booming serve to reach the quarterfinals by beating Milos Raonic 3-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-2.

Isner, seeded 11th, also defeated Raonic at Wimbledon on the way to a semifinals appearance, his best finish in a grand slam.

In the women’s action, Serena Williams started fast and finished strong to reach the quarterfinals by beating Kaia Kanepi 6-0 4-6 6-3.

Williams, seeded 17th, won the first set in just 18 minutes. She quickly seized control again after dropping the second, racing to a 3-0 lead in the final set.

The six-time US Open champion, who missed the tournament last year and gave birth to her daughter during it, advanced to face 2016 finalist and No 8 seed Karolina Pliskova.

Kanepi, the 44th-ranked Estonian who knocked out topranked Simona Halep, was trying to make her second straight US Open quarterfinal.

The Czech Republic’s eighthseeded Karolina Pliskova defeated Australia’s Ashleigh Barty 6-4 6-4 to progress to the last eight for the third consecutive year.