Serena reaches quarter finals, Bouchard ousted
September 02, 2014
World number one Williams, the two-time defending champion, eased past world number 50 Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-3, for a fourth win over the Estonian and goes on to face fellow 32-year-old Flavia Pennetta of Italy in a clash of the two oldest remaining players in the draw. "It´s my first quarter-final of the year at the majors -- at last I did it," said the American, who had fallen in the fourth round in Australia, the third round at Wimbledon and suffered a second round French Open exit. "It was a tough match today. Kaia hits the ball very hard and moves the ball around really well. I wanted to stay relaxed and told myself that whatever happens, Serena, you´re still in the doubles."
Seventh seeded Bouchard was at the centre of a medical drama on Louis Armstrong court when she had to have her blood pressure and temperature taken in her 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 defeat to Russian 17th seed Ekaterina Makarova.
Wimbledon runner-up Bouchard called the medical timeout at 2-3 down in the second set when she was obviously struggling in the 31-degree heat (87F) and humidity running at 60 percent.
She slipped 4-2 down, broke back for 4-3 but left-handed Makarova was too strong for the ailing Canadian as she booked a spot in the last-eight for the second successive year. "I was feeling very light headed and dizzy on the court, just seeing things a little blurry. I just generally didn´t feel good," said Bouchard whose defeat meant that for only the second time in the Open era there will be just one top-eight seed in the quarter-finals of a major. "It developed as the match went on. I have had a few late, tough matches here, and I don´t think I fully recovered from those."
Bouchard´s defeat ended her run of having reached at least the semi-finals at all the majors this year and also means that for the first time since 1977, the four Grand Slam women´s championship matches will have featured eight different players.
Makarova next faces former world number one Victoria Azarenka, the runner-up to Williams in 2012 and 2013, who came back from a set down to defeat 145th-ranked Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.Krunic, 21, who is studying for an economics degree when she is not playing tennis, stunned third seed and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to reach her first major last-16.
A slender 5ft 4in (1.63m) Serb almost added Azarenka to her list of victims when she recovered from a double-break down in the first set to take the opener in a wonderful display of uninhibited hitting. But the bigger, stronger Azarenka eventually prevailed over an opponent attempting to be the first qualifier to make the last-eight in New York in 33 years. "Aleksandra played amazing, she has a great future in the sport. I tried to be positive and I turned the match around," said Azarenka, down at 17 in the world after a season in which she has struggled with a left foot injury.
Italian 11th seed Pennetta reached her fifth quarter-final in New York with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Australian 29th seed Casey Dellacqua.
Pennetta made the semi-finals in 2013, where she was defeated by Azarenka, and despite having a 5-0 losing record against Williams, she refuses to believe that the outcome of Wednesday´s quarter-final is a foregone conclusion. "Of course she´s better than me, but I still believe I can beat her. If she doesn´t have a good day I can do that," said Pennetta of an opponent who has dropped just 17 games in four rounds so far.
The quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw take place on Tuesday and feature 17-year-old Belinda Bencic up against China´s Peng Shuai while former world number one and 2009 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki faces Italy´s Sara Errani.(AFP)
