Novak Djokovic kept up the chase for a place in his fifth straight final at the U.S. Open as the top seed swamped Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday to book into the fourth round.
The Serb continued his domination of Querrey as he beat the American for the eighth time in nine matches.
Djokovic has now reached the second week at Flushing Meadows for the eighth straight year and 22nd consecutive grand slam tournament, dating to 2008.
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“It’s peaking at the right time, at the right tournament,” said Djokovic, who won only two matches between his Wimbledon title and the start of New York.
“This is where I want to play my best tennis. I haven’t done as well as I wanted in lead-up tournaments, Toronto and Cincinnati. I didn’t know how emotionally drained I was,” he said of his state following his July marriage.
“I always am expecting the best from myself and to go as far as I can. But emotionally wasn’t ready for those tournaments.
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“Over the years I played some of my best tennis on these (New York) courts. Four finals and one title is quite impressive record. I feel very comfortable playing on Arthur Ashe stadium.” Fifth seed Milos Raonic needed three tiebreakers to end the Cinderella run of 34-year-old Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic, a five-time loser in qualifying rounds who finally entered the main draw at this edition.
Canada’s Raonic produced a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3) victory in two and three-quarter hours to face off next against Japanese 10th seed Kei Nishikori, a winner over Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
Erratic Andy Murray, seeded eighth, rode the wave of form yet again, but emerged a winner against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
Murray barely got through his Monday opening match because of mystery cramping, but had no troubles in his second-round match three days later. But he suddenly faded away in the third set against Kuznetsov.
Despite closing a 4-1 deficit, the former Wimbledon winner was broken in the final game of the set as his opponent won the set on a double-fault. Murray recovered in the fourth to advance to victory.
Krunic stuns Kvitova
In women’s play, third seed Petra Kvitova was added to the growing list of upset victims as the Czech was knocked out by Serb Aleksandra Krunic 6-4, 6-4 in the third round.
The 21-year-old winner, a qualifier ranked 145, stunned the double Wimbledon winner, sending Kvitova to the same Flushing Meadows scrapheap already occupied by second seed Simona Halep and number six Angelique Kerber.
Halep, the French Open finalist three months ago, lost in the third round to 32-year-old Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a former teenaged phenomenon who played a 1998 Wimbledon semi-final.
Swiss 17-year-old Belinda Bencic beat Kerber on Friday.
Krunic took just over 90 minutes to earn the biggest win of her career, moving into the second week of the major as she broke the inconsistent seed on five of 13 chances.
Kvitova lost with 33 winners and one more unforced error.
“I’m very disappointed, I wanted to win today, and unfortunately I didn’t,” said Kvitova. “She played really unbelievable tennis and put a lot of balls back.
“I had mistakes and I was really trying everything that I could in that moment. I was fighting every point, but it was so difficult. It wasn’t really my day.” Italian 11th seed Flavia Pennetta beat American Nicole Gibbs 6-4, 6-0 to move to the fourth round as she made her 10th appearance.
Former number one Victoria Azarenka, the 16th seed on her way back from months of foot and other injuries, beat Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-1. Australian Casey Dellacqua put out Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.