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Nadal misses out on quarters after 4th-round loss
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RAFAEL Nadal kept making a stand, kept coming back, kept showing he would not depart quietly from this US Open. Facing a much younger, much-less-accomplished opponent, Nadal twice erased a set deficit. Then he staved off a trio of match points.
And then, more than 4 hours into the toughest test he’s put his left wrist through since returning from injury, Nadal faltered. He missed a short forehand, pushing it into the net. Nadal knew what he’d done and covered his eyes with both hands. One point later, the match was over.
Nadal was upset in the US Open’s fourth round by 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) on Sunday, prolonging the 14-time grand slam title winner’s quarterfinal drought at major tournaments.
“There were things I could do better. Had the right attitude. I (fought) right up to the last ball,” said the No. 4-seeded Nadal, a two-time champion at Flushing Meadows.
“But I need something else. I need something more that was not there today.”
He breezed through his opening three matches at the hard-court tournament, dropping only 20 games. But Pouille, a 22-year-old with flashy strokes, presented a much greater challenge in the fourth round, pushing Nadal to the limit through entertaining, tense — and intense — exchanges.
“Every point was great,” Pouille said. This was Pouille’s third career victory in a five-setter; all have come in his past three matches.
Since losing in last year’s French Open quarterfinals, Nadal has failed to make it beyond the fourth round at a major. And after winning at least one grand slam title each year for a decade, he’s now gone two full seasons without one.
Pouille was joined in the quarterfinals by a pair of countrymen, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 10 Gael Monfils, giving France three men’s quarterfinalists at the American grand slam tournament for the first time in 89 years. Tsonga, a 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-2 winner over the last US man in the field, No. 26 Jack Sock, now plays No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The defending champion had his right elbow treated by a trainer early in the third set of his 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kyle Edmund of Britain.
Pouille will face Monfils, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 winner over 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, who received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct for using his cellphone during a second-set changeover. Monfils is quite a character himself: In the middle of one point, he pretended to lean over to tie a shoelace before quickly resuming play.
In the women’s quarterfinals, it’ll be No. 2 Angelique Kerber vs 2015 runner-up Roberta Vinci, and two-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki vs. 48th-ranked Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.
Kerber won a battle of grand slam champion when the second seed powered her way into the quarterfinals with a 6-3 7-5 win over Petra Kvitova.
By reaching the last eight Kerber has put herself in position to end Serena Williams’ long reign as world No. 1.
Williams, bidding for a record seventh US Open title, will now need to reach the final to have a chance of retaining top spot.
“When I was a kid, of course I was dreaming to winning slams and being one day number one,” admitted Kerber.
“Now it can happen. I’m trying to not put pressure on myself because I know I have to win few more matches to reach the number one.
“When it’s happen it will be amazing feeling because that was also one of my dreams.
“But let’s see what happens here in the next few days.”
The fourth-round match had a grand slam pedigree to it with Kerber, the Australian Open champion, going against twice Wimbledon winner Kvitova, but it failed to deliver any major excitement.
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