Heavyweights Djokovic, Murray cruise to round four

Serena keeps American hopes alive; Kvitova fifth top-10 seed casualty.

NEW YORK: Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray stayed on course for a mouth-watering US Open quarter-final showdown on Saturday as five-time women’s champion Serena Williams stood alone as America’s last singles title hope.

But as the heavyweights of the sport eased into the fourth round, the women’s draw was blown open again when Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova became the fifth top-10 seed to exit in the first week.

Kvitova’s misery was shared by American tennis after John Isner and Sam Querrey were both knocked out in the third round leaving the hosts still without a men’s grand slam champion since Andy Roddick triumphed in New York in 2003.

Djokovic, the 2011 champion, brushed aside Querrey for the eighth time in nine meetings, with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win taking the world number one into the fourth round at a major for the 22nd consecutive time.

“Querrey is big server, very powerful,” said Djokovic after an 85-minute win.

“But he doesn’t move that well so I wanted to keep him moving around the court and get as many returns back as possible.”

Wimbledon champion and seven-time major winner Djokovic will next face Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber who ended US hopes with a 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4) win over Isner.

Serena books Kanepi clash

Serena racked up her 75th victory at the US Open when she eased past her third successive American compatriot Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3, 6-3 and will tackle tough Estonian Kaia Kanepi for a quarter-final berth.

“I had to make some adjustments because of the wind but I got some excellent advice from my coach,” said 32-year-old Serena.

“My opponent played at an unbelievable level but I tried to hang in there and do what I needed to do.”

Murray hit 47 winners in a 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov to book a seventh appearance in the fourth round and goes on to face French ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who beat Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

“I got off to a good start and then had a cushion when he got back into the match in the third set,” said Murray.

Third seeded Stan Wawrinka, the Australian Open champion, reached the fourth round without hitting a ball when Slovenian opponent Blaz Kavcic withdrew with a right foot injury and next faces 16th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

Women’s third seeded Kvitova lost her third round tie 6-4, 6-4 to pint-sized Serbian, 21-year-old Aleksandra Krunic, who came through qualifying.

Also going through to the last 16 of the men’s singles for a third successive year was Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic, who will face Japanese 10th seed Kei Nishikori.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2014.

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