The quarterfinals in the bottom half of the U.S. Open draw could not be much more intriguing, with three of the top-eight seeds joined by Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro is going up against Stan Wawrinka, while Andy Murray is facing Kei Nishikori.
(WC) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (3) Stan Wawrinka
Wawrinka and Del Potro will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers and at a second consecutive Grand Slam when they battle for a place in the U.S. Open semifinals on Wednesday. They met just recently in the second round of Wimbledon, where Del Potro pulled off a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 upset to win his fourth match in a row against Wawrinka and extend his head-to-head series lead to 4-2. Surprisingly, they have not faced each other a single time on a hard court.
The hard-court drought came dangerously close to being extended, as Wawrinka found himself one point away from defeat in a third-round battle with Dan Evans. The unseeded Brit had a match point in the fourth set but Wawrinka stormed back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(8), 6-2 victory. Not much has been routine at this event for the third-ranked Swiss, who has also advanced with wins over Fernando Verdasco, Alessandro Giannessi, and Illya Marchenko. Del Potro, on the other hand, has stormed through his part of the draw without dropping a set. The 2009 champion took care of Diego Schwartzman, Steve Johnson, and David Ferrer before getting a second-set retirement from Dominic Thiem. Thus continues a resurgent summer for Del Potro, who took out Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on his way to silver at the Rio Olympics. Based on current form and Del Potro’s history of success in this matchup, the Argentine’s run should make another giant leap forward.
Pick: Del Potro in 4
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(6) Kei Nishikori vs. (2) Andy Murray
Another rematch of a showdown from earlier in the summer will pit Murray against Nishikori on Wednesday. They recently collided in the semifinals of the Olympics, with Murray dominating 6-1, 6-4 to improve to 7-1 in the head-to-head series. In six of his seven victories the world No. 2 has refused to surrender even a single to Nishikori, but the lone exception came back in March and it was not one to be forgotten. In a first-round Davis Cup tilt between Great Britain and Japan, Murray secured the clinching point with a 7-5, 7-6(6), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 triumph in front of the home crowd.
Murray’s 2016 campaign has been so impressive that Great Britain’s run back to the Davis Cup semifinals–after winning it all last year–has been almost lost among his accomplishments. This fortnight’s second seed is 54-7 with another Wimbledon title and a second consecutive gold medal in men’s singles. Murray, a recent runner-up in Cincinnati, has maintained his fine form in New York with defeats of Lukas Rosol, Marcel Granollers, Paolo Lorenzi, and Grigor Dimitrov. He stumbled at times in a four-set win over Lorenzi but picked up the pace to destroy Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 on Monday night. Nishikori has advanced by beating Benjamin Becker, Karen Khachanov, Nicolas Mahut, and Ivo Karlovic. The world No. 7 also raised his level on Monday to the tune of his first straight-set win of the fortnight. Unfortunately for Nishikori, this is not a good matchup for him and Murray is simply the best player on tour right now.
Pick: Murray in 4
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Nishi just controlling every rally.
Those two points from Murray there were PHENOMENAL. 0-40. 3 break points for Muzza
Murray pulling out all the stops to get the break back!
All even at 2-2.
All uneven at 4-2 Nishi. Was Andy tanking in the 4th set? (Have not been watching, don’t really enjoy seeing either of these guys play).
Wow just got back home and couldn’t believe the fifth set rolling? I thought Murray would donate a set to Nishi but that’s all…but I forget how well Nishi played USO in the past…As I type Andy’s defense looks nothing less but amazing..,good match!
Wow Nishi using Rafa’s recipe for “how to lose the match when one is in the winning position”..,
haha…he is leading again now…
Andy not fighting hard enough at these ending stages… Push harder man
Great win for Nishi. Absolute dogsh** 5th set from Muzza. Del Potro should have his way with Nishi on Friday after this brutal match
To be fair, obviously Nishi did play a fantastic 5th set, but that still was horrid from Muzza. Never got over that stupid incident that happened in the 4th set.
what happened? didn’t see the 4th
A gong went off and the Chair ump stopped the match as Murray was about to break back on Nishi. Went on to lose the point and the next 3 games
That’s why I don’t like it when Nishi wins. He will have nothing left for the semis.
On ESPN the commies are saying that Andy played too much recently. They said that Andy was waiting for Nishi to fold in the match.
You don’t often see Andy DF to break point more than once in the crucial moments of the match. In that last service game Andy did DF to break point. He seemed very nervous.
There goes #1 for Andy, but he’s still had a great summer.
wow…
Yesssssssss!!!!!!!
What just happened? How on earth did Andy manage to lose this?
Well, great play from Nishi! I am happy for him! He was the gutsy player out there, never gave up on being aggressive! Bravo Nishi!
Exactly my thoughts. Great win from Nishi, played great and deserved it. But this is still all about how Andy lost it.
I thought when Andy went up two sets to one, thst he would take control. But Nishi would not go away. He did not quit and played like he believed he could win.
I give all credit to Nishi for coming up with some great shots when the match was on the line. I was hoping and expecting that Andy would get through to the final, but he wasn’t able to get it done. So I have mixed feelings, but I much prefer this match to what we saw with Novak and Tsonga. Very poor effort from Tsonga in that match. Nishi showed how you are supposed to play when you are up against a top player.
Great match from both guys. Murray didn’t play as well as earlier rounds but a lot of that was due to the pressure Nishi created.
Fun match.
Pretty much ends the race for year end number 1 though unless Lamonf beats Nole.
Allez!!!!
Well deserved win for Nishikori.
Fourth straight year muzz hasn’t made USO semis unless someboty begs to differ.
woah! just realized
Dang ur right. Lost to Stan in 2013 QF lost to Djoker in 2014 QF lost to Anderson 2015 r16 and now this
Well, I would have picked Murray in 3 (but just saw the match on tv!)…and I like JDP in 4….should be fun to watch…a lot better than both of last night’s matches!!!
Now it’s Serena/Halep.
Halep and the heat are exhausting Serena. Shes really laboring and breathing heavy
Yeah no question. Del Po and Stan should be great just like kei vs Andy was
Jimmy Connors @JimmyConnors 2h2 hours ago
Now the Murray/Nishikori match was just what the US Open is all about– and the fans needed to see– guts and determination from both!!!!
ESPNTennis @ESPNTennis 2h2 hours ago
.@keinishikori remains UNDEFEATED against Top 10 players at the #USOpen, now 5-0 with win over No.2 Murray.
#Whoa!!!
That’s pretty funny. Kei only gets beat at the USO by players outside the top 10? Bodes well for Delpo if he gets past Stan.
Hahahaha…
https://twitter.com/Renestance/status/773630316321894400
#GongGate
Top 3 Forehand vs Top 3 Backhand… Should be fun
first decent opponent and murray falls apart.
british media in ruins.