Djokovic To Duel Monfils For SF Berth

World No. 3 Novak Djokovic dismissed the challenge of the in-form Mardy Fish on Monday in New York with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 victory over the American No. 19 seed to reach the US Open quarter-finals.

Djokovic is through to his sixth successive Grand Slam quarter-final, and 13th in 15 majors. It is the first time in his career that he has advanced to the quarter-finals at all four majors in the same year.

“It's important to perform your best tennis at Grand Slams, and this was my aim for 2010,” said Djokovic. “It's gonna be my aim for next year. They are the most important events, and it's where you want to perform the best tennis you can. It's been happening so far for me. I have to be happy with the results.”

The 23-year-old Djokovic was expected to come up against a strong challenger in Fish, who has reached four finals in his past six tour-level tournaments, winning back-to-back titles in Newport and Atlanta, and finishing runner-up at The Queen’s Club and Cincinnati. Djokovic extended his perfect career record over Fish to 6-0, though, as he struck 30 winners, to only 13 from the American, and capitalised on six of eight break point chances.

“It's a very encouraging fact at this stage of the tournament that I'm raising my game and feeling more comfortable on the court,” assessed Djokovic. “I played a great match today. Conditions were tough as well with a strong wind. I was using my serve in important moments extremely well and opening the court and kind of not giving him enough chances to come to the net and be aggressive.”

The Serbian won his lone Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2008 (d. Tsonga) and finished runner-up at the US Open in 2007 (l. to Federer). He has also reached the US Open semi-finals in both the past two years, losing to Roger Federer both times.

Djokovic, who won his lone ATP World Tour title of the season in Dubai in February, next will meet No. 17 seed Gael Monfils, who reached the US Open quarter-finals for the first time at the expense of his friend and fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. It was the first all-French contest in the fourth round of the US Open in the Open Era.

Looking ahead to the clash with Djokovic, Monfils said: "I can get the crowd behind me. I know him perfectly. We've aways had tough matches. And I have to take my revenge because he won against me at home in Bercy (the 2009 BNP Paribas Masters final). So this time I hope to win."

The 24-year-old Monfils, who has come through the section of the draw that had lost No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko and 2003 champion Andy Roddick, is the first Frenchman to reach the last eight at Flushing Meadows since Arnaud Clement in 2000. He is through to his third Grand Slam quarter-final; his best Grand Slam performance to date was a semi-final appearance at Roland Garros in 2008, when he lost out to Roger Federer.

Both Monfils and Gasquet hit winners aplenty, with a total of 79 struck in the match. But while Gasquet was hindered by committing 41 unforced errors, Monfils was able to keep his error count down at a more moderate 28 and sealed victory in two hours and 35 minutes, having converted five of 17 break point chances.

"I tried to be very tough and very hard with him, showing him that I'm the man and I'm the leader," said Monfils. "I think I try also to get him a bit in the head, to show him I will be strong and he might hit like good shot, but it's okay. For me it's like nothing. I will try and reach every ball and put to him like physical test today. I think I did pretty good today."