TENNIS US OPEN – Our Giulio Gasparin has selected the best quotes from Day 7 at Flushing Meadows. Errani, Lucic-Baroni, Federer, Wozniacki, Sharapova, Simon and Bencic.
Sara Errani advanced to the quarter-finals of the US Open by defeating in a tough battle one of the big stories of this Slam: Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3 2-6 6-0. (Find more about the match here)
The Italian based her tactics on a ferocious defence, which led to only four winners, but only nine errors in three sets.
“I don’t have the chance to make what really I want to play,” she said. “So to move the ball, to be long point with her is impossible.
“She hit the ball very strong. She made winners and she made unforced errors. So I just have to try to make her make mistakes. This is my game against her. Is difficult for me to make winner when she hits ball that strong.”
The Croat was well aware of the statistics, but she stayed classy and refused to take away credits to her opponent.
“You want me to say something I really don’t want to say because you want to write something fun,” she said to one of the journalists. “But I’m not going to do that, because I’m a fair competitor.
“She plays the way she plays and she fights well. You know, she had five winners in the whole match and missed maybe three balls. You know, she runs and she fights hard. That’s the way it is. I wish her good luck. Respect.”
In the second match on Arthur Ashe stadium, Maria Sharapova suffered the biggest upset of the day as she lost by the hands of Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 2-6 6-2. (Find more about the match here)
“I thought she played really well,” said the Russian. “She made me hit a lot of balls. That’s always been her strength. But she did extremely well today.
“She’s a great retriever, especially in these types of conditions. I just felt like I maybe went for a little too much.
“She is very fit, but there is a little bit more on her defence shots. It’s not just balls up in the air. She’s doing a little bit more with them. But she did that really well today.”
It was a great win for the Dane, who is feeling that her game is finally coming together after a couple of difficult seasons.
“I’m serving well, I’m running well, I’m staying aggressive when I have to, and I make the right decisions at the right moment,” she said. “And I enjoy playing.
“By the end of the second set I just thought to myself, ‘Try to hit through the ball. Just go for your shots. You know, prepare yourself for the third set’.
“You know, when we had that break and I went — I said, ‘Okay, win or lose, I’m going to go for my shots. I’m going to go for it. This is the only chance I have to win. If I’m going to lose, at least I’m going to do it with dignity’, you know. (laughter)”
In another upset of the night, Belinda Bencic defeated Jelena Jankovic 7-6 6-3 becoming the youngest player to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open since her part-time coach Martina Hingis.
“I mean, I don’t know,” she said astonished. “It’s amazing. I knew in the fourth round I’m the youngest since Paszek since I don’t know when. So amazing to hear it, and I’m so proud of it.”
She went on saying: “It was amazing. At the beginning I was too impressed. I didn’t play well. I was just, not nervous, but just overwhelmed from everything.
“After I got used to it and the court was little bit different. It was different to play there. And also night session is different than in the day, so I had to have some time to adapt to everything.”
Roger Federer won a match that started under the worst possible conditions for the Swiss, but eventually turned out to be a routine win 4-6 6-1 6-1 6-1 over Marcel Granollers.
The rain signed the change in the economy of the match, as the 17-time Slam champion said: “I definitely I guess played better after that. But then again, the first seven games all happened very quickly.
“It was quite windy when we got out. When we came back, basically it was gone. I just tried to play solid, you know, figure things out a little bit, because he did come out and play really aggressive.
“He served well. He was doing a lot of things really well.”
Gilles Simon was the man of the day, causing the first big upset in the men’s draw as he defeated David Ferrer 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-3.
“I feel it was one of the hardest days for me on the court because it was hot and it was so humid,” he admitted. “I never sweat like this in the last ten years.
“Plus, I was not really prepared because everyone was talking about the cooler day with maybe some rain. I didn’t see it. So, yeah, to play David in this condition is really demanding physically.”