Roger Federer, the second seed, has set up a last eight meeting at the U.S Open against Gael Monfils. Federer’s 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over 17th seed Roberto Bautista-Agut was expected, but Monfils’ (20) 7-5, 7-6(6), 7-5 win over Grigor Dimitrov (7) was a shock.
Monfils has beaten Dimitrov before at the U.S Open, back in 2011 in the first round, but that was when Monfils was ranked 7 in the world, and Dimitrov was 57th. This year Dimitrov was the favorite, and he played well, however not well enough against an in-form Monfils on the back of upsetting Gasquet in the previous round. Monfils managed to play better on the big points, breaking Dimitrov 3 times, winning 3 of 4 break points. Monfils also managed to save 6 of the 7 break points against his serve.
In the other bottom half quarter-final, Marin Cilic will play Tomas Berdych in a repeat of their third round Wimbledon match. Cilic squeezed past Gilles Simon 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The Croat did well to raise his level at the end of the fifth set, going for broke on his shots, and being rewarded with the win.
Tomas Berdych, the sixth seed, overwhelmed first time slam last sixteener Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 to set up the chance to get revenge over Cilic for upsetting him at Wimbledon. Berdych has been in good form, hitting 24 winners to 23 errors in his victory over Thiem, and winning 85 percent of his first service points, and will go into the match high on confidence. Cilic meanwhile has made his second quarter-final at a slam in a row, and has talked about how much better his mentality is nowadays. How big an improvement will be seen in his quarter-final with Berdych on Thursday.
Commentary by Christian Deverille
Follow the U.S Open with the Tennis Review
thetennisreview 
Leave a comment