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 Five-times champion Federer powered his way past Spain's Roberto
Bautista 6-4 6-3 6-2, the 33-year-old raising his record on Arthur
Ashe Stadium court to a dazzling 25-1.
Facing Federer for the first time, the 26-year-old Spaniard quickly
found himself 5-1 down in the opening set to the 17-time grand slam
winner, who then eased off the gas and coasted to an unflustered
straight sets win in just under two hours.
On another sweltering day at the U.S. National Tennis Centre, three
emerging talents and potential grand slam winners of the future were
finally ushered to the Flushing Meadows exit.
Chinese doubles specialist Peng Shuai routed 17-year-old Belinda
Bencic 6-2 6-1, Tomas Berdych thrashed 20-year-old Austrian Dominic
Thiem 6-1 6-2 6-4, and Frenchman Gael Monfils schooled 23-year
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 7-6(6) 7-5.
Monfils put aside his showman antics for a more workmanlike approach
to his fourth round match and it resulted in victory over the player
dubbed "Baby Fed" for his all-around game that resembles Swiss
maestro Federer's.
Frenchman Monfils, seeded 20th, returns to the quarter-finals for
the first time since 2010 for a date with Federer.
"He's got easy top 10 potential," said Federer of Monfils, who has
yet to drop a set. "He's a great mover. He's got a wonderful serve,
really, which nobody really talks about because of his athletic
movement which stands out so much.
"His issues have really been just his fitness and his setbacks he's
had because of injury. Then sometimes maybe not wanting to play
sometimes because of reasons only he can explain.
"I think I can speak on behalf of so many players: We love watching
him play."
'AMAZING TIME'
It was not all joy for the French contingent on Tuesday with Gilles
Simon losing to big-serving Croat Marin Cilic.
Cilic and Simon have played a combined 49 five-setters in their
careers so it was no surprise that Tuesday's meeting between the two
went the distance.
Cilic had won a five-set marathon over Simon earlier this year at
the Australian Open and it was the 14th seeded Croatian coming out
on top again 5-7 7-6(3) 6-4 3-6 6-3.
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While Cilic and Simon battled it out for over four hours in the heat,
Federer, Monfils, Berdych, Peng and 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki
conserved energy by registering straight-sets wins.
Peng, 28, delivered a 64-minute master class to 2013 junior world number
one Bencic in an unlikely quarter-final between unseeded players.
The Chinese had rattled off three impressive upsets in a row from the
second round, ousting fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 28th seed Roberta
Vinci and 14th-seeded Lucie Safarova, on her way to reaching her first
grand slam singles semi-final in 37 attempts.
"This is amazing time for me," said Peng, who has won 16 doubles titles,
including this year's French Open, but is still chasing her first
singles crown.
"A lot of tennis. It's a long time, the career. It’s tough sometimes.
I’m thinking to give up and stop play because I don’t know if I can make
it or not."
Peng will next meet former world number one Wozniacki, who used her
aggressive groundstroke game to near perfection in a 6-0 6-1 victory
over Italy's Sara Errani.
The 10th-seeded Dane, engaging Errani in long baseline rallies but using
superior power to open up the court and find lanes for blasting home
winners, roared to victory in a brisk 65 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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