Defending champ reaches US Open Last 16 in 32 mins after injured Russian Youzhny retires; Nadal in Round 4 too
Novak Djokovic hits a ball into the stands after his win on Friday.
Novak Djokovic hits a ball into the stands after his win on Friday. Pic/AFP and Rafael Nadal
New York: Novak Djokovic reached the US Open last 16 in just 32 minutes Friday when Mikhail Youzhny retired injured before fellow two-time winner Rafael Nadal also made the fourth round for the first time in three years.
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Defending men’s champion Djokovic was 4-2 ahead in the first set when Russian 34-year-old Youzhny called it quits suffering from a left hamstring injury. The outcome completed a bizarre first week for world number one Djokovic.
After labouring over four sets to beat Jerzy Janowicz on Monday, he was handed a walkover into the third round when Czech opponent Jiri Vesely withdrew from their second round clash with an arm injury.
Rare instance
“I have never had this happen before in my Grand Slam career, getting a walkover and the next match lasting just half an hour,” said Djokovic. The top seed next faces Britain’s world number 84 Kyle Edmund who stunned John Isner of the United States 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) to make a Slam fourth round for the first time. Meanwhile, Nadal doesn’t quite know what to expect as he heads into the second week of the US Open for the first time since 2013. The fourth-seeded Spaniard looked in fine form in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov. But with the memory of his forced retirement from the French Open with a wrist injury that also caused him to miss Wimbledon still fresh, Nadal is taking nothing for granted.
“I don’t know in which kind of level I am,” said Nadal, who won titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona before his season was interrupted. He’s in the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time since he reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year. “It’s true that when I had to stop I was playing great. I felt myself ready for the French. I don’t know where I am today. Only thing I know is I am happy. “I am excited to play the US Open. For me it’s great news that I am on the tour again, and I am playing every day with less pain on the wrist. That’s most important thing.” Nadal was all but flawless in the opening set on Friday, but wilted a little as Kuznetsov stepped up the attack in the second. “I lost the serve in the second for a couple of games. I was serving bad,” he said.
Next up for Rafa: Lucas
Nadal, who hasn’t dropped a set in three matches, next faces France’s 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille, a 3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 winner over Spain’s 15th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut.
Although his quarter of the draw has opened up with the early exit of Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic, Nadal said any player he’ll encounter from here on in will pose a serious threat, regardless of ranking. Of his own world number five ranking, he said: “Sometimes I can play better than the number five, sometimes I can play much worse than the number five.”
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