U.S. Open 2011: Day 5 Results

U.S. Open Results: Day 5

FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York – On Friday, the top women’s seeds continue to be ousted with the upset of Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray rallies to survive, Rafael Nadal advances easily and Donald Young stops seed on day five of the U.S. Open.

Pennetta takes out Sharapova

Third seeded Maria Sharapova’s 2011 unbeaten streak in three-set matches is over. Flavia Pennetta of Italy stopped the Russian 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round of Flushing Meadows.

“She’s a good fighter, you know. You can never give up with her. You have to be focused until the last game; until the last point, actually,” said Pennetta. said. “But I think (at) 5-4, she’s starting to feel a little bit of pressure.

“I think this one is one of the best victories in my career, and is gonna be like this forever.”

“I came back. I had chances. There’s no doubt I had chances,” Sharapova said in regard to rallying form 1-4 in the final set to even it at 4-4. “But I guess today was the day I didn’t take them.

“I made way too many unforced errors. I fought back to get myself back in the match in the third set. I think the first three, four games on every game I had a chance to win that game, whether it was a breakpoint or it was a game point on my serve, and I didn’t win those games. When you’re down 1-4 and you get yourself back in a position where can you win again and start making errors, it’s just too inconsistent to win the match against her.

“I didn’t feel comfortable with most of my game today,” Sharapova said.

“She played really smart…that’s her game, and she makes you hit a lot of balls.

“Losing isn’t fun for anyone because we work to win. We don’t work to try to lose. So when we’re faced with a position where we can win and we didn’t in the end, it’s tough.

“You get back in a position where you can win and start making errors again. It’s just too inconsistent” said the 2006 U.S. Open champion who made 60 unforced errors.

Murray passes Haase test

For the sixth time in his career, Great Britain’s Andy Murray rallied from two sets to none down to win. On Friday the heroics came against Robin Haase by a score of 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, 6-4.

“To come back from two sets is a difficult thing to do –any player will tell you that. And I just feel because of the way I was playing, that’s what was more impressive, because I wasn’t playing that well,” said Murray.

“My legs were not getting me around the court like they normally do and I was out of position for a lot of balls,” Murray said.

“Once I really just forced myself to get to as many balls as possible, kind of hustled a few points and got the break in the third set, I kind of started playing better. That’s really a big part of my game, so I think it was down to that.”

“I’m going to need to play better on Sunday or I’ll be going home.

“I need to try and make sure I get my emotions right in the next match, make sure I get the crowd involved a bit, show some fist pumps and ‘C’mons!’ That’s what I always did when I was a kid, and that’s when I felt like I always moved my best, when I enjoyed playing tennis the most.”

Murray will face Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in the next round.

Nadal moves on

No. 2 Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open when Frenchman Nicolas Mahut was forced to retire with an abdominal strain down 6-2, 6-2.

In response to reporter’s questions about Nadal’s recent lack of form, the Spaniard responded,”the people remember the last day when you are with the trophy, when you play fantastic in the final, but to arrive at this moment not everything is roses.”

Asked to evaluate Nadal’s form, Mahut stated: “Maybe he doesn’t have as much confidence as he had last year. … But with Rafa, you never know.”

“Donald Young became a man today”

Those were the words Patrick McEnroe, head of the USTA’s player development program who tweeted about Donald Young’s upset victory over 14th seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) in a four-hour, 21-minute match to advance to the third round.

“It was a battle… 4 hours, 20 minutes, I didn’t even know I could even go that long, but the training, the work I did in the offseason is finally starting to pay off,” said Young to ESPN’s Pam Shriver after the match.

“When you’re younger and your parents, or people period, tell you things, you’re just, ‘What?’ Let me do it,” Young said. “You do it and you see what happens is not always great but you learn.

“Some people have to learn from experience. I was definitely one who had to.”

“I’d like to think I’m a pretty tough person deep down –I just had to grow up a little bit. Everybody’s light goes on at a different time. Hopefully mine’s coming on right now.”

“To come through a match like that and not wilt like I have before, it’s great”

Young in response to Patrick McEnroe’s tweet: “I thought I became a man, you know, when I turned 21. On a serious note, that’s great for someone of his status to say something like that and really feel that. It’s great.”

Young commented on his practices with former world No. 1 Pete Sampras. “It wasn’t like work said Young. “ We practiced together a couple times. Played a game of 21. He beat me. He let me know that wasn’t good. And he talked and called me a little princess and everything. (Laughing.) As far as him, when he was driving off, he was like, I expect to hear some big things from you. That made me sit back like, Wow, Pete Sampras just said he expects me to do some big things. That gave me a lot of confidence and pushed me to work even harder.”

Young will face Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela next.

Advancing Seeds

Women
(2) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (30) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 64 75
(9) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (24) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 76(5) 67(5) 75
(13) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (19) Julia Goerges (GER) 64 76(1)
(22) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Irina Falconi (USA) 60 61
(25) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. Christina McHale (USA) 62 63

Men
[2] R Nadal (ESP) d N Mahut (FRA) 62 62 ret. (stomach strain)
[4] A Murray (GBR) d R Haase (NED) 67(5) 26 62 60 64
[5] D Ferrer (ESP) d J Blake (USA) 64 63 64
[12] G Simon (FRA) d G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 64 67(4) 75 63
[18] J Del Potro (ARG) d D Junqueira (ARG) 62 61 75
[21] A Roddick (USA) d J Sock (USA) 63 63 64
[24] J Chela (ARG) d S Darcis (BEL) 62 64 64
[25] F Lopez (ESP) d V Pospisil (CAN) 57 64 76(3) 76(5)
[26] F Mayer (GER) d J Lisnard (MON) 62 75 62
[28] J Isner (USA) d R Ginepri (USA) 64 63 64

Seeds Upset
(26) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 63 36 64
Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. (27) Lucie Safarova (CZE) 60 61
D Young (USA) d [14] S Wawrinka (SUI) 76(7) 36 26 63 76(1)
I Kunitsyn (RUS) d [17] J Melzer (AUT) 36 63 16 62 76(5)
D Nalbandian (ARG) d [30] I Ljubicic (CRO) 64 16 63 62

For more in-depth coverage visit tennispanorama.com.

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