No. 23 seed Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 champion, is one set away from upsetting World No. 1 and three-time titlist Novak Djokovic in the fourth round of the US Open. Despite trailing by a break in the second set, Wawrinka leads 6-4, 7-5.
Djokovic has not lost before the quarter-finals in Flushing Meadows since 2006, when he was only 19. On the other hand, Wawrinka is trying to defeat a World No. 1 for the fifth time (4-21), and he is trying to make the last eight at the season's final Grand Slam for the fifth time in his six most recent appearances.
The top seed leads the pair's FedEx ATP Head2Head series 19-5, but Wawrinka has earned his three most recent victories against the Serbian at the majors. In 2016, the Swiss defeated Djokovic in a four-set final here in New York.
It appeared after a lackluster first set that Djokovic righted his ship to begin the second set, breaking in his first return game, eventually taking a 3-0 lead. But after saving one break point at 4-2, Djokovic played great defence to position himself to stave off another opportunity before missing an inside-out forehand both wide and long on a neutral ball.
From there, it felt as if it was a matter of time before Wawrinka added another crack to Djokovic's armour. The Swiss increasingly drew the 16-time Grand Slam champion into bruising baseline rallies, leading to uncharacteristic errors from the top seed. And after letting slip a chance at 4-4, Wawrinka converted at 5-5 when Djokovic missed a forehand volley into the net off a backhand passing shot. The former World No. 3 then earned a two-set advantage by holding serve.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2MQzlq8
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