Month of September , 2008

Second seed Jelena Jankovic kept alive her hopes of regaining the number one ranking after reaching the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open on Sunday, but said winning her first grand slam title was her main ambition.

The Serbian came through another war of attrition at Flushing Meadows to beat talented Danish 18-year-old Caroline Wozniacki 3-6 6-2 6-1, her greater experience and fitness seeing her through to the last eight.
 

Playing in the hot, mid-afternoon sun, No. 12 seed Marion Bartoli of France succumbed to illness and cramps, losing the her fourth round match to No. 29 Sybille Bammer of Austria, 7-6 (7-3), 0-6, 6-4.
 
At the start of the first set, Bartoli went up 2-0. However, within moments, she showed clear signs of distress. Clutching her abdomen between every point, she appeared winded and sluggish as she traversed the court.
 

Many fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium Sunday evening probably took their seats for the women’s fourth-round match between Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva of Russia and 26-year-old Li Na of China without having a clear allegiance to any particular player, but they did know that they wanted to see an exciting tennis match and cheered for long rallies and intricate points. Unfortunately, they didn’t see too many of those in this relatively one-sided match in which Dementieva rolled over Li 6-4, 6-1.

Q. You got off to a great start. Something turned around then going into the second set. Can you explain, you know, the difference out there?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, I mean, I started out well. I played my own game. I played aggressive. The second set, you know, I don't know, I think I just got a bit more defensive.
You know, I felt like even though I was hitting the ball it wasn't going. I felt a bit tired. You know, Jelena, she's not No. 2 for no reason, you know.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
 
Q. As in Wimbledon, she was able to take a first set from you, but you came back strong. What was the difference? What changed out there?
JELENA JANKOVIC: In the first set, you know, she played quite solid. She put all these balls back. She didn't make any errors. I was the one who was all over the place.

Q. It was a great performance tonight. Do you feel right now that you're really on top of your game? Are you really happy with the way things went tonight?

She drew arguably the most in-form non-Top 16 seed in the fourth round, and aside from some early trouble, she passed with flying colors. Jelena Jankovic dropped the first set but then steamrolled past Caroline Wozniacki at the US Open on Sunday, becoming the first player to reach the quarterfinals of the season's final Grand Slam tournament.
 

What do you get when you take two celebrated American sisters, a red-hot Russian, a French wildcard, a German qualifier, a Polish teenager, a flamboyant Italian and a two-time Grand Slam champion who's not quite ready to let the tennis world forget her superb talent? It's the fourth round line-up from the top half of the draw, and with the final four quarterfinal slots up for grabs, they'll be taking no prisoners.
 
Arthur Ashe
 

Third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia survived a hard-hitting battle with Croatian teenager Marin Cilic on Sunday and said it was the sort of test needed to prepare him for another assault on the U.S. Open title.

Australian Open winner Djokovic duelled for nearly four hours on Arthur Ashe Stadium court before claiming a 6-7 7-5 6-4 7-6 victory over the 30th seed to reach the round of 16.

With Justine Henin, last year's US Open champion, retiring in May at the ripe old age of 25, Maria Sharapova missing injured and Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, the No1 seed, losing in the second round here last week, next Saturday's final is beckoning strongly for Jelena Jankovic, the most talented woman in the top 10 yet to reach a grand slam singles final.
 

Andy Roddick is causing quite a racket at this U.S. Open.

Breaking a few of them, too.

With fans shouting encouragement from all corners of Arthur Ashe Stadium, Roddick advanced to the round of 16 by beating No. 31 Andreas Seppi 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (4) Sunday.

Always a crowd favorite at Flushing Meadows, the former champion feeds off the commotion. In a game that’s often hush-hush, he actually encourages it.

 Qualifier Gilles Muller became the first player from Luxembourg to reach the fourth round of a grand slam when he squeezed past Spanish 18th seed Nicolas Almagro 6-7 3-6 7-6 7-6 7-5 at the U.S. Open on Sunday.

Two days after staging his first comeback from two sets down to knock out Germany's Tommy Haas, the 130th-ranked Muller produced another inspired performance to replicate the feat in just under four hours on a scorching day on Grandstand court.

Monday, 1 September
Arthur Ashe

11:00 AM Start
 1 Men's Singles - 4th Rnd.
  Mardy Fish (USA)    v.      Gael Monfils (FRA)[32]
           

2 Men's Singles - 4th Rnd.
  Rafael Nadal (ESP)[1]    v.      Sam Querrey (USA)
 3 Women's Singles - 4th Rnd.
  Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[9]    v.      Venus Williams (USA)[7]
 

Like clockwork, the No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva advanced to the quarterfinals at the United States Open on Sunday night with a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Li Na.
 
Is it Dementieva’s time to win it all? Her career chronology suggests she may be at destiny’s front porch, on her way to kicking down the door. Eight years ago, Dementieva, then an unseeded second-year pro, reached the Open semifinals. Four years ago, she advanced to the final, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
 

After her victory Sunday at the United States Open, Jelena Jankovic conducted her news conferences in two languages — English first, then her native Serbian. She probably could have conducted one in French, which she studied at a diplomacy school as a teenager back home in Belgrade, but she hasn’t kept up.
 
One of the top female players in the world, Jankovic has criticized the new demand by the L.P.G.A. that all players on that tour be able to speak adequate English by the end of 2009.
 

Severine Bremond (FRA) vs. Serena Williams (USA)
The 29-year old Bremond is into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career. The previous occasion occurred when she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2006. She came into the tournament ranked #121, but she has been as high as #34 back in February of 2007.

Poland’s tennis top seed Agnieszka Radwanska will battle against Venus Williams for the US Open quarterfinal on Monday.
 
Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded ninth in the women’s US Open tennis tournament at Flushing Meadows, New York, effortlessly beat Dominika Cibulkova from Slovakia in two sets (6:0, 6:3) in the third round yesterday, which in the opinion of many the Pole’s best match this season, and progressed to the next round.
 

Jelena Jankovic is vowing to laugh her way back to the top of the women's rankings by winning her first Grand Slam in New York.
 
The bubbly World No2 has seen fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic, the current No1, lose early in the US Open and now a host of players are trying to snatch top spot.
 

Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic lead a four-woman assault upon the world number one ranking at the US Open, a fight that could come down to Saturday night's Grand Slam title showdown.
 
Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva, each hoping to become the second Russian woman to take the top spot after Maria Sharapova's groundbreaking run in 2005, are also in the hunt to replace already ousted Serbian Ana Ivanovic at the top.
 

Q. You seemed to have very few unforced errors on your forehand side today. That's been an issue since Wimbledon. Is that something you've been working on?

ROGER FEDERER: No, not really. I mean, depends on day form sometimes. And today was pretty breezy, and so you try to keep the ball in the court, you know, not go for the lines too much.