NEW YORK (AFP) ˗ Novak Djokovic rolled into his 13th US Open quarterfinal on Sunday, Sept. 3, after Coco Gauff ended Caroline Wozniacki’s fairytale Grand Slam comeback to line up a potential blockbuster with defending champion Iga Swiatek.
Three-time US Open winner Djokovic cruised past 105th-ranked Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, to book a showdown with American No.1 Taylor Fritz in the last eight.
Home favorite and sixth seed Gauff was taken to three sets for the third time in four rounds this week before edging out former world number one Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
After recovering from two sets down in the previous round, Djokovic dictated from the outset against 25-year-old outsider Gojo who had won just one Grand Slam match prior to this week.
Djokovic broke twice in the first set, the 23-time Grand Slam winner shaking off an early wobble in the second and procuring another break in the third to polish off Gojo without the drama of his preceding five-set victory over Laslo Djere.
The 36-year-old Serbian star will try on Tuesday look to continue his dominance of Fritz, a player he’s beaten in all seven past meetings including a one-sided affair in Cincinnati last month.
Fritz became the third American man to reach the quarterfinals Sunday after a straight-sets win over Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker.
The ninth seed knocked out world number 128 Stricker 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4 to match his mother Kathy May’s run to the 1978 US Open quarterfinals.
He joins compatriots Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton in the next round. It is the first time the US has had three men’s quarterfinalists in New York since 2005.
Tiafoe, seeded 10th, advanced to an all-American quarterfinal against 47th-ranked Shelton after defeating Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.
The 25-year-old Tiafoe reached the semifinals of the US Open last year where he lost in five sets to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Meanwhile Shelton, 20, took down 14th-seeded compatriot Tommy Paul in four sets to reach his second Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year.
He avenged his loss to Paul in the last eight of the Australian Open, winning 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to become the youngest American man to reach the US Open quarters since Andy Roddick in 2002.
The 19-year-old Gauff could meet defending champion Swiatek in the last eight after Gauff picked up her 15th win in 16 matches, a run including titles in Washington and Cincinnati last month.
Gauff sparked into life after dropping the opening two games to pocket the opening set, but Wozniacki — playing her first Grand Slam in over three years — wound back the clock to level the match.
Two-time US Open runner-up Wozniacki broke to start the deciding set, triggering a ferocious response from Gauff who swept the final six games to close out a gutsy victory.
