Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer was knocked out of the US Open by French 26th seed Gilles Simon in the third round on Sunday. Simon claimed a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win to send two-time semifinalist Ferrer to his earliest defeat in five years.
The French player will meet either Marin Cilic of Croatia or South Africa’s Kevin Anderson for a place in the quarterfinals.
In the women’s section, Sara Errani’s softly-softly approach paid off as she booked her quarterfinal berth with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 victory over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. The Italian, who ousted two-time champion Venus Williams in the third round, will face a former World No. 1 in her next match — either fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova or 10th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki.
Lucic-Baroni, a 32-year-old qualifier ranked 121 in the world, accounted for the third-round exit of World No. 2 Simona Halep.
But the Croatian, a teen sensation in the 1990s whose career was derailed by the trauma of an abusive father, financial troubles and injury, couldn’t find a way past the metronomic Errani.
The Italian played it safe on a windy Arthur Ashe Stadium court, coming up with just four outright winners to the 46 of Lucic-Baroni — but also committing only nine unforced errors to the 69 of her opponent.
In the first set, Errani put 100 percent of her first serves in play.
Asked how she managed that on such a windy day, Errani said she couldn’t afford not to. “I serve slowly, so I have to put mine in,” she said.
Errani reached the French Open final in 2012, a career-best year that saw her win four singles titles and crack the top 10 in the world rankings. She reached the summit of the doubles rankings that year as she claimed eight titles with Roberta Vinci, including the US Open doubles crown.
She and Vinci completed a career doubles Grand Slam at Wimbledon this year, but Errani will be free to focus on her singles campaign this week — she and Vinci were eliminated in doubles in the second round.
On Saturday, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray stayed on course for a mouth-watering US Open quarterfinal showdown as five-time women’s champion Serena Williams stood alone as America’s last singles title hope. John Isner and Sam Querrey were both knocked out in the third round leaving the hosts still without a men’s Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick triumphed in New York in 2003.
Djokovic, the 2011 champion, brushed aside Querrey for the eighth time in nine meetings, with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win taking the world number one into the fourth round at a major for the 22nd consecutive time.
Wimbledon champion and seven-time major winner Djokovic will next face Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber who ended US hopes with a 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4) win over Isner despite the American 13th seed firing 42 aces and 77 winners. It was the third successive year that Kohlschreiber had defeated Isner in the third round.
“It’s a disappointment for me personally, not the United States as a whole,” said Isner.
75th win
Serena racked up her 75th victory at the US Open when she eased past her third successive American compatriot, Uzbekistan-born left-hander Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3, 6-3 and will tackle the tough Estonian Kaia Kanepi for a quarterfinal berth.
“I had to make some adjustments because of the wind but I got some excellent advice from my coach,” said 32-year-old Williams, playing in her 15th US Open and aiming to become just the second woman after Chris Evert in the 1970s to win three New York titles in succession.
“My opponent played at an unbelievable level but I tried to hang in there and do what I needed to do.”
Murray, the 2012 champion, hit 47 winners in a 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov, the world 96, to book a seventh appearance in the fourth round and goes on to face French ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who beat Pablo Carreno-Busta of Spain, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
“I got off to a good start and then had a cushion when he got back into the match in the third set,” said 27-year-old Murray.
Third seeded Stan Wawrinka, the Australian Open champion, reached the fourth round without hitting a ball when Slovenian opponent Blaz Kavcic withdrew with a right foot injury.
Spate of walkovers
That took the number of retirements and walkovers at this year’s US Open to 10 in the men’s event and two in the women’s.
Wawrinka next faces 16th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo, a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 winner over Australian Nick Kyrgios, who had shocked Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
THE RESULTS
Men: Third round : 26-Gilles Simon (Fra) bt 4-David Ferrer (Esp) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Sam Querrey (USA) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt John Isner (USA) 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4); Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Pablo Carreno-Busta (Esp) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Andy Murray (GBr) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus) 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; Stan Wawrinka (Sui) w/o Blaz Kavcic (Slo); Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Nick Kyrgios (Aus) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3; Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Leonardo Mayer (Arg) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
Women: Fourth round : 13-Sara Errani (Ita) bt Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Cro) 6-3, 2-6, 6-0.
Third round : Serena Williams (USA) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 6-3, 6-3; Kaia Kanepi (Est) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (Esp) 7-5, 6-0; Casey Dellacqua (Aus) bt Karolina Pliskova (Cze) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-1, 6-1; Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt Zarina Diyas (Kaz) 6-2, 6-4; Eugenie Bouchard (Can) bt Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4.
