Radwanska falls to teen
CROATIAN teen Ana Konjuh upset fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 6-4 to claim the last women’s quarter-final spot at the US Open.
The 18-year-old, who won the 2013 US Open juniors title after claiming the Australian Open juniors crown, lost her first service game but did not yield serve again.
She cracked 38 winners, including six aces, against the Pole, who has never gone beyond the round of 16 in five attempts at Flushing Meadows.
The power-hitting teenager, who became the first Croatian woman to reach the quarter-finals at a US Open, avenged a second-round loss to Radwanska at Wimbledon, where she held three match points before falling 9-7 in the third set.
“It’s been an incredible night,” Konjuh said in an on-court interview. “This time I got revenge, so I’m really happy.”
The victory lifted Konjuh to a last eight match against 10thseeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who overcame sixth-seeded American Venus Williams 4-6 6-4 7-6.
At 36 years old and the oldest remaining player in the draw, Williams battled until the bitter end as her 24-year-old Czech opponent needed five match points to finally put away the two-time champion.
Since the draw was unveiled tennis fans had circled a potential semi-final between the sport’s most famous siblings on American tennis’s biggest stage where Serena and Venus have met five times, including twice in the finals.
Serena stormed into the quarters in record-smashing style by easing past Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2 6-3 to claim her record 308th Grand Slam match win.
The world No 1 needed just 68 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium court to overwhelm the 52ndranked Shvedova and surpass Roger Federer on the all-time list of matches won at tennis’s four blue riband events.
Kei Nishikori cut down the towering Ivo Karlovic of Croatia with surgical precision in a straight-sets win yesterday that lifted the sixth-seeded Japanese to the quarter-finals.
Nishikori, runner-up two years ago, beat Karlovic 6-3 6-4 7-6 in the final main draw singles match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, which will be replaced by a new stadium with a retractable roof for the 2018 tournament.
It was a David and Goliath clash of physical opposites, but the 2.11m Karlovic’s tennis game, apart from his prodigious serve, was overshadowed by the skills of Nishikori, 1.78m. Nishikori will play second seed Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.
Nishikori became the first Asian to reach a Grand Slam men’s final two years ago in Flushing Meadows.
It was the Labour Day holiday in the US yesterday but Andy Murray came to Arthur Ashe Stadium ready to work, demolishing Grigor Dimitrov 6-1 6-2 6-2 to storm into the quarters.
With the year’s final Grand Slam entering its second week Murray dispatched the 22nd seed in just two hours, signalling he is well prepared to extend a dream summer that has included a second Wimbledon title and a second Olympic gold medal.
Bulgarian Dimitrov had ended Murray’s title defence at Wimbledon in 2014 and came out on top in their last meeting earlier this season in Miami, but the Scot was on fire yeterday.