Wozniacki beats No. 8 Keys to reach Slam quarterfinals for first time since 2014

Caroline Wozniacki defeated Madison Keys to advance to the quarterfinals on U.S. Open Day 7 on Sunday.

Author:
Jamie Lisanti
Publish date:
Sep 4, 2016

NEW YORK – A recap of the action on Day 7 on Sunday at the 2016 U.S. Open, including results, tweets, hot shots, photos and more.

Results Roundup

• Caroline Wozniacki took out eighth-seeded American Madison Keys on Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals for the second time in two years. Wozniacki is salvaging a dismal year of results at this year’s tournament, taking out No. 9-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and Monica Niculescu. The win put her into the quarterfinals at the Grand Slam for the first time since she was finalist here in 2014. After finishing at No. 17 last season, Wozniacki's ranking plummeted to No. 74 this year.

"At the end of the day I just do my thing. I know I can play well. It doesn't matter what ranking I have," she said after the match. "I know that when I play my best I'm tough to beat, and I just do my thing. I have a lot of people here who are supporting me every day, and that's really the most important thing. I love having my friends and my family here kind of just doing dinners and enjoying my time off the court, as well."

• Anastasija Sevastova keeps on winning. Ranked No. 48, Sevastova has backed up her upset over No. 3-seed Garbine Muguruza with wins over Kateryna Bondarenko in the third round and No. 13-seed Johanna Konta in the fourth round on Sunday. The win puts the Latvian into the quarterfinals at a major for the first time in her career.

Konta—who looked strong in a solid, straight-sets win over No. 24-seed Belinda Bencic in the third round—came out flat on Sunday. But from 3-5 in the second set, the Brit saved match point, broke back and saved another match point to level the set at 5-5. But it wasn’t enough, as Sevastova went on to win 6-4, 7-5. After making the semifinals at the Australian Open in January, Konta was looking to make her first quarterfinal at the U.S. Open and will surely look back at this match as a missed opportunity.

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Sevastova retired in 2013 because of a series of injuries, but she returned to the sport at the start of last season.

"It was a bumpy road," Sevastova said of the retirement. "But I think what was it, it was one-and-a-half years when I started...I didn't expect to be here at this point of my life after retiring, so I don't know what to say really....Biggest factor? Maybe maturing. Maturing, like personally and physically, and getting better, better physically, also. I saw that there is life without tennis, as well. So that helped me, I think."

Sevastova and Wozniacki will meet in the quarterfinals—they’ve only met once in their careers, at the 2011 Australian Open where Wozniacki prevailed in straight sets.

"I had some tough matches against her in the past. I think we played Fed Cup a couple of times, but also we played the Australian Open," Wozniacki said of Sevastova. "She's a tough player. She's a tough opponent. She has a lot of grit and good hands. It's not going to be an easy one, but I'm excited just to have another shot."

• Last year’s surprise runner-up is back in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. No. 7-seed Roberta Vinci defeated Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 7-6, 6-2 on Sunday. Vinci has now made the U.S. Open quarterfinals in four of the last five years.

"I know it's tough to repeat again the same results of last year, but I'm in the quarterfinal. I have won four matches here. I don't want to stop. I want to continue," Vinci said after the match. "At the beginning of the tournament I didn't expect quarterfinal, because also my body wasn't so good. But I'm really happy that I'm still in tournament."

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• An improved Gael Monfils continued his run at the U.S. Open on Sunday, notching a solid 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over Marcos Baghdatis. Tenth-seeded Monfils is into the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the third time in his career and has yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament.

"I think I play good. I play very tough tennis, you know," Monfils said after the match. "I think for sure a little bit luck, because I was a break down eventually today. I managed to come back very quick. But my guess is luck and also I think I just played very strong."

Monfils awaits the winner of the match between Rafael Nadal and Lucas Pouille, which is the next match on Arthur Ashe stadium.

• No. 9-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ended American Jack Sock’s run on Sunday, winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. After Tsonga won the first two sets, Sock fought back in the third to force a tiebreaker. After an exchange of set points for Sock and match points for Tsonga, the 26th-seeded Sock hit a return winner down the line to force a fourth set.

Ultimately, Tsonga was able to pull out the win and the Frenchman will move on to face either Novak Djokovic or Kyle Edmund in the quarterfinals.