SERENA Williams and Novak Djokovic kept their time in blazing conditions to a bare minimum on Monday as they breezed into the US Open quarter-finals but Eugenie Bouchard’s hopes of a maiden grand slam title melted away in the heat.
Djokovic charged past Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to set up a blockbuster meeting with longtime rival Andy Murray, who booked his own place in the last eight with a steamy 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 win over ninth seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Serena warmed up for her match in the mid-day sun sporting a black dinner jacket over her pink leopard print dress and then turned back the frustrations of a disappointing season at the majors by hammering Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3.
Gunning for her third consecutive US Open title, Serena made something of a grand slam breakthrough for 2014 by reaching the last eight.
“I finally made a quarter-final this year!” she shouted to the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd with arms upraised. “Glad to do it in New York.”
Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, 10th seed Kei Nishikori and twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka avoided the worst of the heat by playing under the evening floodlights but they were still made to sweat for their wins.
No one work harder, or longer, for their victory than Japan’s Nishikori, who needed five sets and four hours and 19 minutes to tame fifth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (8-6), 7-5, 6-4.
The marathon contest equalled the latest finishing match ever played at the US Open with the two exhausted players walking off the Arthur Ashe Stadium court at 2:26am local time.
With on-court temperatures hovering near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), it was another day of survival of the fittest at Flushing Meadows and seventh seed Eugenie was simply not up to the challenge.
The 20-year-old Canadian’s bid for a fourth consecutive grand slam semi-final appearance came to a distressing end with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 loss to Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
Ekaterina will next face 16th seed Azarenka, who overcame an inspired challenge from qualifier Aleksandra Krunic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to end the diminutive Serb’s magical run to the fourth round.
Next up for Serena is Italian 11th seed Flavia Pennetta, a semi-finalist last year, who advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 win against 29th-seeded Australian Casey Dellacqua.
Wawrinka fought off two set points in the pivotal third set on the way to a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 win over Tommy Robredo and the Australian Open champion was then able to rest up and watch his next opponent, Nishikori, slug it out with Raonic. Reuters