Rafael Nadal cruised through the US Open round of 16 on his quest to reach a second consecutive final. Serena Williams survived a strong challenge, keeping alive her hopes of winning the last Grand Slam of the season.
Image: Getty Images/S. Ryan
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The No.1-ranked Nadal battled past Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open for an eighth consecutive year.
"It's a big victory for me," said the 32-year-old Spaniard."He was hitting the ball very strong and when I thought I was in control of the points, he always came back with strong shots."
However, 59 unforced errors doomed the 37th-seeded Basilashvili to defeat.
Nadal is to face Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals. Nadal has a 7-3 record against the Austrian, with all of their previous matches having been played on clay. "Thiem is a great opponent, he has the big serve," Nadal said.
Thiem was the first Austrian to reach the round of 16 at the US Open since Thomas Muster in 1996. "Against Rafa, I've had three very nice experiences and seven horrible experiences," Thiem said.
"On clay, it's one of the biggest challenges in sports to beat this guy. I hope that it's a little bit more comfortable on the hard court, but I'm not sure," he admitted.
Federer and Djokovic in the hunt for quarterfinals
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are set to play their round of 16 matches on Monday. Each will face unseeded opponents. Federer will face off against 55th-ranked Australian John Millman while Djokovic will play against 68th-ranked Brazilian Joao Sousa.
Reaching a quarterfinal would be a first for either Millman or Sousa, but to do so they would have to upset the No. 2 and No. 6 seeds, respectively. If Federer and Djokovic advance, they will face each other.
Serena Williams advances
Six-time US Open champion Serena Williams needed three sets to beat unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-0,
4-6, 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals. Williams will now face Czech player Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Williams in the semifinals in New York in 2016.
"It wasn't an easy match at all," Williams said about the Kanepi match. "Winning a big game and a very important game and a really tight game, I think it was just a relief," she conceded.
Of the 16 German players to enter this year's US Open, only Phillipp Kohlschreiber remains. The No. 34-ranked player, will face in the 19th-ranked Kei Nishikori of Japan for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Nishikori has won both of the previous meetings with Kohlschreiber and has yet to drop a set against the German.
To get there, Kohlschreiber prevailed over fellow German and the world's No. 4 men's player, Alexander Zverev 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. Still just 21 and regarded as one of the brightest young stars of men's tennis, Zverev showed again on Saturday that he is not yet the finished article. He has only made one Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance so far, at this year's French Open.
jcg/pfd (dpa, AFP, AP)
US Open: The big one in the Big Apple
"If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere," as Frank Sinatra once put it. This statement could just as easily be applied to the loudest, most demanding tennis tournament in the world, the US Open.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Samad
The sky is the limit
Nowak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka battled it out on in the men's final on Center Court in 2016. This photo gives you a rough impression of the view you would have had if you had managed to get yourself a ticket for a seat in the nosebleeds. Wawrinka would go on to win this duel.
Image: Getty Images/A. Bello
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Ashe used a wooden racket when he played in the Forest Hills stadium in Queens, New York in 1965. In 1978, the tournament moved to its larger site at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. The main court, which holds more than 22,000 spectators, is named after Athur Ashe.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Pete could do with a bucket...
The matches can be long and the weather is usually hot and humid. This can take a toll on the players. In 1996, a few minutes after this picture was shot, the great Pete Sampras actually threw up on the court during his match against Alex Corretja. We could have shown you that, but you didn’t really want to see it, did you?
Image: Getty Images/S. Botterill
Quiet please!
If you are looking for a quiet game of tennis, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is not the place for you! It happens to be located close to LaGuardia Airport. If you don’t like the noise you can complain, but making yourself heard could pose a problem...
Image: imago/UPI Photo
When Serena was still a bad girl
"Foot fault," cried the woman on the chair during this 2009 match. Serena Williams was having nothing of it and did her best to make this clear. The line judge jumped out of her chair and…
Image: Getty Images/J. Finney
"I didn't say that!"
…ran to the net and told the match referee, who called the head referee. He ordered Williams’ semifinal match against Kim Clijsters abandoned and awarded it to the Belgian. It was widely reported that Williams had threatened to shove a tennis ball down the line judge’s throat, something that the American denied having said.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T.A. Clary
Cramp-plagued Marcos Baghdatis
IN 2006, Marcos Baghdatis struggled through a his match against Andre Agassi. Plagued by cramps, he struggled to complete its. Baghdatis is still on the tour, Agassi, of course, retired years ago.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/D. Emmert
Andre's second-last match
The match, in which Baghdatis wound up unable to run around the court was the second last in the career of Andre Agassi in New York. The crowd gave both men a standing ovation after Agassi won 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5. In his 2010 autobiography "Open," Agassi described his pain both on and off the tennis court.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/D. Emmert
Stefanie Graf's backhand
Stefanie Graf rarely made mistakes with her backhand but her forehand was even better. In 1988 she faced Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini in the US Open final and won 6-3, 3-6, and 6-1. Sabatini went on to have her own line of perfume, but Graf became a legend, helping, along with Boris Becker, to spark a tennis boom in Germany.
Image: Getty Images
A happy Angie Kerber
It would take until 2016 for another German to win at Flushing Meadows. This photo is from September 11, 2016, a day after Angelique Kerber had beaten Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the final. Since then, things haven't gone her way. Kerber lost her No. 1 spot in the women's rankings - despite the absence of Serena Williams.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Cj Gunther
Can't forget Jimmy
How could we forget this guy? He was in his prime when US men’s tennis was still powerful and nobody had heard of John McEnroe yet. Jimmy Connors, in this picture no longer using his old metal racket, won the US Open five times. His two-handed backhanders changed the men’s game.
Image: Getty Images/V
Boris won here too...
Here’s another guy we can’t forget. This is Boris Becker after beating Ivan Lendl 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the 1989 final. The often ill-tempered Lendl went on to become a cool golfer and even cooler coach. Becker is still his happy-go-lucky self. Last year he was appointed the "head of men’s tennis" by the German Tennis Association (DTB).
Image: Imago/Norbert Schmidt
Legendary support
Alexander Zverev (above left) is still looking for his first Grand Slam and he has enlisted former Grand Slam winner Ivan Lendl (right) to help him refine his game. The men's No. 4 failed to make it past the second round in his two previous appearances at the US Open. The 21-year-old German is hoping that Lendl's tactical knowledge will help carry him much deeper in 2018.
