Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer edged closer to a US Open semi-final blockbuster on Saturday as controversial Italian Fabio Fognini was kicked out for a vile, misogynistic tirade at a female umpire
Federer celebrates his win over Lopez in New York on Saturday. Pic/AFP, Getty Images
Federer celebrates his win over Lopez in New York on Saturday. Pic/AFP, Getty Images
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer edged closer to a US Open semi-final blockbuster on Saturday as controversial Italian Fabio Fognini was kicked out for a vile, misogynistic tirade at a female umpire.
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Nadal, 31, saw off Argentine lucky loser Leonardo Mayer 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-4, taking his record over the World No. 59 from Buenos Aires to 4-0. He will face Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov, against whom he is 6-2, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Five-time champion Federer brushed aside 31st seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to take his career record against the Spaniard, playing a 63rd successive Grand Slam, to 13-0.
Fed next faces Philipp
Next up for Federer is Philipp Kohlschreiber, who he leads 11-0. Nadal had dropped the first set of his second-round match against Japan's Taro Daniel before winning in four.
Saturday was almost a carbon copy with the 15-time major winner unable to convert any of six points in the opener. But the match turned in the 10-minute seventh game of the second set when, on his 14th break point of the encounter, Nadal finally smashed through.
Austrian sixth seed Dominic Thiem defeated France's Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to make the last 16.
Thiem next faces 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Women's top seed Karolina Pliskova saved a match point to defeat China's Zhang Shuai, hanging on to her World No. 1 spot in the process.
Pliskova reacts after her win over Zheng on Saturday. Pic/AFP
Top seed Pliskova, the runner-up in 2016, triumphed 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, but was forced to save a match point in the 10th game of the second set and recover from a break down in the decider.
Sania, Bopanna advance
Sania Mirza and her Chinese partner Peng Shuai entered the third round of the women's doubles event after defeating Slovakian pairing of Jana Cepelova and Magdalena Rybarikova 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3 in the second round contest. Bopanna pairing with Gabriela Dabrowski, defeated Heather Watson and Finland's Henri Kontinen in a hard fought match 6-4, 4-6, 13-11.
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