US Open Round of 16 Day 2: Federer, Wawrinka, Halep through, Murray in shock ouster
No 2. seed Roger Federer continued his faultless run through the 2nd day of the round of 16 at the US Open Tennis Championships at Flushing Meadows. The Swiss beat American John Isner, the top ranked player in the USA, in straight sets 7-6, 7-5, 7-5. Isner did not manage to break the former world No. 1’s serve even once during the match, with Federer managing to break the American towards the end of the match. This was the 6th clash between the pair, with Federer winning 5 of these as a 2012 Davis Cup tie-breaker went in Isner’s favour.
The Swiss, who holds a record 17 Grand Slam titles, will now enter his 46th Slam quarterfinal. He meets Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who is seeded 12th at the tournament. Gasquet beat 6th seeded Tomas Berdych in his previous match, coming from a set down to take victory 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
The Frenchman’s best performances at Slams have been at Wimbledon and the US Open; he reached the semifinals of the former in 2007 and 2015, and finished at the semis in the 2013 US Open.
Federer and Gasquet have met on 16 previous occasions, with Federer winning 14 of these. The 5 most recent of these victories have all come in straight sets, so it looks to be easy work for the Swiss, who is in top form coming into the tournament, having won the Cincinnati Masters, where he beat World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Third seed Andy Murray has suffered a routing loss to South African Kevin Anderson, who is seeded 15th at the tournament. The two have met 7 times before, with Murray winning 5 of these meetings.
Each of the players won their first service game of the match, and while Murray attempted to catch up, the big-serving South African equalised him on every single occasion. Anderson won the first set tiebreak with a blisteringly fast 108mph forehand. He took the second set in easier fashion, sealing it 6-3 as he led the Scot two sets to love.
The pair equalised again in the third set, with Anderson only two games away from a win. Murray managed to hold, however, taking the third set into a tiebreak as well, and winning it to take the match into a fourth set.
What would be the final set appeared to be a repeat of the first two, with the players fighting game for game as this set went into a tiebreak as well. Anderson took this 6-0 to seal the match, and he will now meet 5th seed Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.
Stan Wawrinka met American Donald Young in his round of 16 match, and dropped a set for the first time at the Open. The Swiss won 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
With Wawrinka taking the first set in under half an hour, Young still did not have significant reason for worry, as he came back from two sets down to his two previous competitors, Victor Troicki and Gilles Simon. Neither player, however, was of the caliber of Wawrinka.
Young broke the Swiss’ serve for the first time 4 games into the second set. Eventually up 5-1, Young served for set and won.
Wawrinka came back with a vengeance to dominate the remainder of the match, however. He took the next 5 games in a row, but a couple of unforced errors from the Swiss took the fourth set to 5-3. Netting an easy return, Young was visibly angry, lambasting himself on court. This was the beginning of the end for the match.
With 5th seed Wawrinka up 5-3, Young had to serve to stay in the match. Although he managed to bring the final set to 5-4, Wawrinka served for a place in the quarters and won.
Simona Halep beat her German competitor Sabine Lisicki in a hard-fought match where the second seed was visibly tired, struggling already with an injury in one leg and cramping in the other.
Down a set to Lisicki, a visibly pained Halep ultimately took victory 6 -7 (8), 7-5, 6-2.
The World No. 2 will now play former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who has beaten her in both their previous meetings.
Victoria Azarenka, seeded 20th at the Open, won her match against Varvara Lepchenko of the United States in straight sets – 6-3, 6-4, to book her spot in the quarter finals.
The biggest action from the US Open so far comes in the form of the Williams sisters, who will face each other in the quarter-finals tonight.