Halep, Del Potro Punch Ticket to Quarters in Flushing Meadows

September 5, 2016 | By Brian Coleman
Halep 1
Photo credit: Darren Carroll/USTA

In the first match on Louis Armstrong Stadium on Monday, fifth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep got off to another quick start, and even though things got a little dicey towards the end, she closed out 11th seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-2, 7-5 to move into the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Open.

Halep broke Suarez-Navarro in the match’s opening game and added to it with another break in the third game to quickly build a 3-0 advantage. The Spaniard would break back to cut things to 2-4, but Halep immediately broke back to put the first set out of reach, closing it out in 46 minutes.

The two would trade breaks to knot the second set score at two-all, and Halep looked to put a stranglehold on the match when she broke again for a 4-3 lead. But displaying some of that nervous frustration that has plagued her in majors before, Halep was broken while serving for the match at 5-4 and showed a ton of negative emotion on the court.

But Halep regained her composure, channeling that frustration into positive performance, breaking Suarez-Navarro back for 6-5 and then serving the match out, wrapping up the straight-set victory with a backhand winner that had too much for Suarez-Navarro to handle as she came to net.

Halep finished with 25 winners to 18 unforced errors and, besides short lapses where the game to seemed to fade away, played another outstanding match to return to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the first time since 2012 on Monday afternoon, leading eighth-seed Dominic Thiem 6-3, 3-2 before Thiem retired to push the 2009 champion into the final eight.

Thiem came out firing early and tried to illustrate that the moment was not too big for him, breaking del Potro for a 2-1 lead and proceeding to consolidate it to build a 3-1 advantage. But the stoic del Potro never flinched, and got the break back to even things at 3-3 as a part of five straight games that he won to storm ahead with the first set.

Del Potro committed just eight unforced errors in the third set and made the most of his chances, converting on both of his break point chances to win the opener in 38 minutes.

He would break again for a 2-1 lead in the second set and consolidated it with a hold after a long deuce game which required him to save a break point. Thiem would hold in the set’s fifth game but just one point into del Potro’s service game at 3-2, the 23-year old Austrian couldn’t give it a go anymore and was forced to retire with a knee injury.

“It started two or three days ago.” Thiem said about his injury. “Didn’t get that much better. At the beginning of the match it was basically okay, but maybe also because of all the excitement and this. From the end of the first set and beginning of the second set, it got worse and worse. [I had] no other choice.”

Thiem played a ton of tennis throughout this season and his success has catapulted him into the top 10, but that workload could have taken a toll on the young Austrian, and del Potro knows a thing or two about injuries.

The fan favorite though is back into the final eight at the U.S. Open for the first time in four years and looks fully healthy. He didn’t need to play his best tennis on Monday, but was efficient on the big points, converting on all three of his break points and committing just 13 total unforced errors.

In the quarterfinals, del Potro will meet the winner of the match between third-seeded Stan Wawrinka and Ukraine’s Ilya Marchenko.

Photo credit: Darren Carroll/USTA

Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the first time since 2012 on Monday afternoon, leading eighth-seed Dominic Thiem 6-3, 3-2 before Thiem retired to push the 2009 champion into the final eight


Brian Coleman

 Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for New York Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com

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