Kim Clijsters U.S. Open mixed doubles reflections

Roger Federer funny Spanish interview

Roger Federer gets walkover moves to quarters at U.S. Open

World No. 1 Roger Federer advanced into his 34th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final without touching a racquet on Monday when American Mardy Fish withdrew from their US Open match for health concerns.

The 31-year-old Swiss star, seeking his 18th Grand Slam title and sixth US Open crown, advanced into a last-eight matchup against Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, who dispatched Spanish 11th seed Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-1.

"I probably need to have something more than 100 percent," said Berdych, who has lost 11 of 15 career meetings to top seed Federer.

The walkover stretched Federer's record for consecutive quarter-final Grand Slam appearances in the Open era to 38, three shy of the record 41 achieved by American Jimmy Connors.

Federer, who won his 17th Grand Slam title in July at Wimbledon, has not dropped a set in the Flushing Meadows fortnight.

"Maybe if I would be in his situation I would rather play a match and win it and keep the rhythm of one day a match, one day off," Berdych said. "But probably he's going to be fine with that."
British third seed Andy Murray, who won Olympic gold last month, will face Canadian 15th seed Milos Raonic later with the winner booking a last-eight date against Slovakian Martin Klizan or Croatian 12th seed Marin Cilic.

Fish missed two months of the season earlier this year because of a heart problem, being hospitalized after the Miami Masters event in March when his heart rate increased to three times its normal resting pace.

Fish, 30, then had a cardiac catheter ablation in Los Angeles on May 23 to address his heart condition.

"I regret that I have to withdraw from the US Open for precautionary measures," Fish said. "I was reluctant to do so, but am following medical advisement.

"I had a good summer and look forward to resuming my tournament schedule in the fall."
Berdych, who took only two hours to reach his first US Open quarter-final, has won three of his past six meetings with Federer, including a US Open tuneup last year at Cincinnati and a 2010 Wimbledon quarter-final.

Berdych finally reached the last eight after 10 tries with his 200th career hardcourt triumph. He joined Petr Korda and Ivan Lendl as the only Czech men in the Open era to have reached the quarter-finals at all four Grand Slam events.

"I'm very happy that I can compete in all Grand Slams at least in quarter-finals. It helps my confidence," Berdych said.

At last January's Australian Open, Berdych was fuming at Almagro, accusing the Spaniard of hitting a ball at his face while he was at the net during a rally in a fourth-round match. The ball struck him in the arm.

Spectators booed Berdych for refusing to shake hands with the Spaniard after the match, but the Czech said Almagro's apology was not enough to satisfy him.

Berdych dismissed the acrimonious incident this week as "nothing at all", noting they have since split two ATP matches, although this was their first Grand Slam meeting since.

They clasped hands after Monday's match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Almagro flashing a quick smile at his conquerer as they met at the net.

Almagro, 27, figures to replace injured Rafael Nadal on the Spanish Davis Cup team that will host the United States next week in a semi-final tie. Almagro is unbeaten in four Cup singles matches so far this year.

Berdych, whose best Grand Slam result was a 2010 Wimbledon final loss to Nadal, improved to 7-3 lifetime against Almagro and snapped a five-game losing streak to top-20 rivals dating to a Rome victory over Almagro last May.

Berdych took three of the last four points to win the first-set tie-breaker, a forehand volley winner claiming the set after 48 minutes.

"It was really close, especially in the first set," Berdych said. "It was a fight for every point. It was a tough match."

Almagro had a break point in the fourth game of the second set but Berdych erased it with a 127 mph ace and then broke Almagro in the seventh game and held serve twice more to take the second set.
Berdych broke at love to begin the third set and again in the third and final games.

Yahoo Sports.com

Kim Clijsters reflects on career

Verdasco no contest for Federer who moves to 4th round of U.S. Open in straight sets

menstennisforum.com

NEW YORK -- Roger Federer is getting to the net, closing out points more quickly of late.

Of course, when the going gets tough -- which it rarely has so far at the U.S. Open -- he's sticking to what he does best.

Top-seeded Federer faced only a single break point in his 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 25 Fernando Verdasco on Saturday and won it with the longest point of the match -- a 20-stroke rally he captured by moving Verdasco back and forth on the baseline until the Spaniard finally sprayed a forehand wide.


The rest of the time, Verdasco found Federer doing an unusual amount of damage at the net, closing out 26 of 27 points from the front court. Federer added that effort to the 32 points he won in 47 trips to the net two nights earlier in a second-round win over Bjorn Phau.

"I really tried to play offensive against ... Phau in my second match," Federer said. "I did lose more points than I was hoping to. But I think that gave me the confidence to move forward today. And conditions helped that because it was quicker during the day."

Indeed, the wind and the quicker surface put more pressure on Verdasco, a baseliner who had trouble getting the ball past Federer. It was hard for him to get comfortable against the 17-time Grand Slam champion, who got 67 percent of his first serves in, many at tough angles that drove Verdasco off the side of the court.

"He served well the whole match," Verdasco said. "He always has great control close to the lines with his serve."

Federer, who hasn't lost a set through three matches over the first week at the U.S. Open, stayed on course for a semifinal meeting against No. 3 Andy Murray.

Murray came from behind in all three tiebreakers to defeat 30th-seeded Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4).

The biggest moment, however, might have come a few minutes before the fourth-set tiebreaker when Murray saved a break point in a 24-stroke rally in which he drew Lopez into the net, then pushed him back and finally got him to net a backhand to push the game to deuce.

"There was obviously a lot going on," Murray said. "He came to the net, there was a drop shot, I made a good volley cross court. Points like that can change the match."

Lopez fell to 0-7 lifetime against Murray and was lamenting opportunities lost in the tiebreakers.

In the second set, the Spaniard framed a forehand out to drop set point. In the fourth, Lopez tried a drop shot on match point that didn't clear the net. Those were two of Lopez's 55 unforced errors. He also had 68 winners.


"Everyone gets tight when you have to win the most important points of the match," Lopez said. "I think Andy played a little bit better at the end of tiebreakers."

Murray won his 250th career match on hard court and improved to 104-65 lifetime in tiebreakers. His next match is against No. 15 Milos Raonic, a straight-sets winner over American James Blake.

Federer will play the winner of a late match between Gilles Simon and Mardy Fish.

With two more wins each, Murray and Federer would meet for the third time this summer. They split the last two -- Federer winning in the final at Wimbledon and Murray taking the Olympic gold-medal match, also at the All England Club.

ESPN.com

Kim Clijsters plays last career match loses in mixed doubles

tennisforum.com
 Now Kim Clijsters can go enjoy her retirement.

With her 4-year-old daughter cheering in the stands, four-time Grand Slam singles champion Clijsters' career ended Saturday night, when she and Bob Bryan lost their second-round mixed doubles match at the U.S. Open to Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares 6-2, 3-6, 12-10.

PHOTOS: Kim Clijsters' career in pictures


Clijsters and Bryan saved four match points in the super-tiebreaker before Clijsters netted a return on the fifth.

Clijsters, a 29-year-old Belgian, announced months ago the U.S. Open would be her last tournament. She lost to British teen Laura Robson 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in singles Wednesday, snapping Clijsters' 22-match winning streak at Flushing Meadows, where she won titles in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

Clijsters and Kirsten Flipkens lost 6-3, 6-4 to Chuang Chia-jung and Zhang Shuai in the first round of women's doubles Thursday.

USAToday

Again I'm really gonna miss her!.  Another great player going away (this reminds me so much of Martina Hingis's retirement equally sad although totally different circumstances)  Good luck with all future plans Kim, hope to see you around in exhibitions :).

Kim Clijsters CBS This Morning pre-U.S. Open Interview