By Tennis Panorama News
FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York – Day four at the US Open saw a marathon match in Louis Armstrong Stadium, top seeds with easy wins in Arthur Ashe Stadium while American teen Sloane Stephens upsets the 23rd seed with a total of seven seeds falling on Thursday.
Marathon men
Thirty-one–year-old former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero took four hours and forty-eight minutes to topple seventh seeded Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
Currently ranked 105th in the world, the Spaniard Ferrero has missed most to the season with injuries.
The crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium paid tribute to both players before the final game of the match by giving both players a standing ovation.
Ferrero said, “when it was 5-4 in the fifth set, I felt very special on the court –I mean, when you saw this crowd enjoying all the time during the match. They love this kind of match, so it’s great.
“This match means a lot for me because it was a long time that I didn’t enjoy myself inside the court.”
“All the time, my mom says, `You win, you lose, you give your best.’ I think today I could sort of smile at my mom even though I lost, so I was happy,” said Monfils who was celebrating his 25th birthday on Thursday.
Young Americans Stephens and King advance by stopping seeds
Americans Sloane Stephens and Vania King ranked 106th and 103rd respectively with upset victories.
Stephens, the youngest woman left in the draw at 18 years-old beat 23rd-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Stephens comes from a sports family, she is the daughter of 1988 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year John M. Stephens who died in a truck accident two years ago.
“Christina (McHale), Irina (Falconi) and myself are all in the third round of the U.S. Open. We’re ready to go to the top, baby. What’s up?,” noted Stephens on her other young American contemporaries still in the US Open draw.
King stunned No. 29 Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 6-2, 6-0.
Easy wins for seeds in Arthur Ashe Stadium
Italy’s Francesca Schiavone led the day on center court with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Mirjana Lucic. “ I think really huge stadium,” said Schiavone said of Arthur Ashe stadium. “ Is really big. 11:00 is not easy to play here because there are not so many persons. But at the end was better and they could enjoy my tennis, so that’s good satisfaction.”
Roger Federer improved his career record at Flushing Meadows to 58-6 when he made quick work of 93rd-ranked Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The victory gave the Swiss his 225th career win in a Grand Slam match, second behind Jimmy Connors’ 233.
It took No. 28th seed Serena Williams a mere 49 minutes to dispatch Michaella Krajicek 6-0, 6-1
“I just try to keep enjoying myself and just have fun, whether I win or whether I lose,” Williams said. “It’s a great honor to be playing out here.” The day session on Ashe Stadium ended earlioer than usual at 4 p.m.
The evening session produced more dominating performances from the top seeds - Caroline Wozniacki routed Arantxa Rus 6-2, 6-0 while Novak Djokovic destroyed Carlos Berloq 6-0, 6-0, 6-2.
Advancing Seeds
Women
(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Arantxa Rus (NED) 62 60
(7) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 61 61
(10) Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. Zheng Jie (CHN) 36 63 63
(11) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Jelena Dokic (AUS) 63 64
(15) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Elena Baltacha (GBR) 64 63
(16) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Petra Cetkovska (CZE) w/o (left thigh injury)
(17) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Petra Martic (CRO) 64 26 64
(18) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Alizé Cornet (FRA) 62 63
(28) Serena Williams (USA) d. (Q) Michaella Krajicek (NED) 60 61
Men
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) d C Berlocq (ARG) 60 60 62
[3] R Federer (SUI) d D Sela (ISR) 63 62 62
[8] M Fish (USA d M Jaziri (TUN) 62 62 64
[9] T Berdych (CZE) d F Fognini (ITA) 75 60 60
[11] J Tsonga (FRA) d S Bubka (UKR) 63 75 62
[19] F Verdasco (ESP) d M Ilhan (TUR) 64 63 61
[20] J Tipsarevic (SRB) d P Petzschner (GER) 60 63 36 63
[22] A Dolgopolov (UKR) d F Cipolla (ITA) 60 75 26 57 64
J Monaco (ARG) d [23] R Stepanek (CZE) 64 61 20 ret.
[27] M Cilic (CRO) d B Tomic (AUS) 61 60 62
K Anderson (RSA) d [29] M Llodra (FRA) 61 62 62
[31] M Granollers (ESP) d M Kukushkin (KAZ) 75 63 64
Seeds Upset
(WC) Sloane Stephens (USA) d. (23) Shahar Peer (ISR) 61 76(4)
Vania King (USA) d. (29) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) 62 60
(Q) Sílvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) d. (31) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 64 62
J Ferrero (ESP) d [7] G Monfils (FRA) 76(5) 57 67(5) 64 64
I Karlovic (CRO) d [13] R Gasquet (FRA) 64 62 26 76(4)
J Monaco (ARG) d [23] R Stepanek (CZE) 64 61 20 ret.
K Anderson (RSA) d [29] M Llodra (FRA) 61 62 62
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