New York : Five time former Champion Roger Federer marched into the quarter-finals of the US Open on Monday (Sept 6) with a 6-3 7-6 6-3 win over 13th seed Jurgen Melzer. Women's top seed Caroline Wozniacki also progressed to the final eight with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 victory over former champion Maria Sharapova.
Wozniacki will now face unseeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, who put out the number 11 seed and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 7-5, 7-6 (4).
Also through to the last eight is Vera Zvonareva who outclassed her opponent, Andrea Petkovic 6-1 6-2.
In the men's draw, Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils both progressed in straight sets, past Mardy Fish and Richard Gasquet respectively, while Robin Soderling recovered from losing the opening set to beat Spain's Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
Bright sunshine bathed the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Monday, as the 2010 US Open entered its second week with the completion of the fourth round in both the men's and women's draw. The number 11 seed and women's champion in 2004, Svetlana Kuznetsova, was up against the unseeded Slovak world number 45 Dominika Cibulkova.
The Russian threw away a multitude of chances to stamp her authority on the game - conceding the first set 7-5 after leading 4-2 - and doing something similar in the second.
Cibulkova kept her booming baseline game together under extreme pressure to overturn a 3-1 defecit and force a tiebreak, and closed out a 7-5, 7-6 (4) victory in two hours and six minutes, repeating the straight sets success she had in Sydney against the same opponent at the beginning of the year.
It was an all-French affair in the men's fourth round draw, as number 17 seed Gael Monfils took on Richard Gasquet, the conqueror of number six seed Nikolay Davydenko in round two.
But a match that was expected to go the distance lasted just three sets as too many errors crept into Gasquet's game and he blew his chances of making the last eight for the first time in his career. Monfils had too much finesse on the day and closed out a 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 victory in two hours and 35 minutes.
He'll next meet the number three seed Novak Djokovic, who cruised into the last eight with a consummate victory over Mardy Fish of the United States.This match was expected to be a closely-fought affair, with a partisan crowd firmly behind the number nineteen seed.
But in trying to take on Djokovic at his own game, the American floundered and was dismissed in just an hour and fifty minutes, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
Back in the top half of the women's draw, with the departure of seeds such as Jelena Jankovic and Anna Radwanska eariler in the tournament, there was a chance for either Belgian number fifteen seed Yanina Wickmayer or Estonia's Kaia Kanepi to take another step towards the latter stages of a grand slam tournament.
It seemed that the match was going firmly one way after Wickmayer pocketed the first set 6-0, but Kanepi got the better of a second set tiebreak and ran away with the decider to close out a strange-looking 0-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1 in two hours and 21 minutes.
The big match of the day pitched the young pretender to the women's US Open crown, top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, against the deposed former champion, Russia's Maria Sharapova.
The 23 year-old Russian was fancied by many pundits to cause an upset here. But although there were flashes of the old Sharapova - who won three Grand Slams between 2006 and 2008 - 36 unforced errors, including nine double faults, virtually handed the match to Wozniacki, who closed out an ultimately comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win in an hour and 53 minutes.
One of those 'doubles' gave Wozniacki the crucial break in the second set and the Dane's campaign to go one better than her runners-up finish here last year remains on track.
The late game on the Louis Armstrong court saw the number five seed in the men's draw, Sweden's Robin Soderling, drop the first set of his fourth round match to Spanish number 21 seed Albert Montanes.
However, the beaten finalist at the last two French Opens fought back to level the match and then took complete control as Montanes' gutsy resistance petered out.
In the end it took just two hours and 15 minutes for Soderling to close out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 and book his place in the last eight - there he will face either Austrian 13th seed Jurgen Melzer, or his nemesis, Roger Federer.
In thirteen meetings with the former world number one, Soderling has won just once - but that did come at this year's French Open, when the Swede came out on top in four sets.
Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva faced Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the last fourth round match in the women's draw. The seventh seeded Russian overwhelmed her opponent from the outset, cruising through the first set to take it 6-1 and powering into a commanding 5-1 second set lead.
The only real hiccup of her performance came when serving for the match at 5-1 with Petkovic snatching a timely break of serve. But the Russian broke straight back, taking the next game to love with a brutal forehand on match point, to book her place in the quarter finals.
Five time former Champion Roger Federer took on Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the late match in Arthur Ashe arena. After a slow start, Federer seized control of the match and took the first set 6-3 with some clinical play.
The second set was significantly tighter with Melzer stepping up his challenge and forcing the number two seed into a tie break, when two net cords went Federer's way as he closed it out 7-6 (4) leaving his opponent with everything to do.
Melzer broke in the opening game of the third set to give himself a slim chance of forcing his way back into the match, but Federer always seemed to be in charge and broke back before edging a pulsating rally on match point to close out the 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-3 and reach his 26th consecutive Grand Slam quarter final.
He will face Robin Soderling for a place in the final four, doubtless hoping to atone for his loss to the same opponent at the quarter final stage of the French Open three months ago. AP
