Seeded only 28th after missing big chunks of the last two years because of injuries to her foot, Williams nonetheless improved to 16-0 this year on hardcourt. She has yet to drop a set here and now finds herself in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since last year at Wimbledon, when she won her 13th major title.
With each win at Flushing Meadows, she makes a stronger case that the “28’’ before her name at this tournament is only a number. When healthy, she might be the best in the world.
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki came back from a set and a break down to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1 in a match that lasted 3 hours, 2 minutes.
Wozniacki was trailing 4-1 in the second set when she began her comeback and kept alive her hopes of winning her first Grand Slam title.
“I was basically out of the tournament at one point,’’ she said.
She did it in her typical fashion, by chasing down balls, making fewer mistakes and winning lots of long points. She finished with 26 unforced errors compared to 78 for the 17th-seeded Kuznetsova, a two-time major champion.
In men’s play, the highest-ranked American, eighth-seeded Mardy Fish, lost to 11th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Fish was trying to make it past the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the second time. But his play dipped in the fourth set, and he was treated by a trainer for a right leg problem before the fifth.
The top men’s player, Novak Djokovic, opened his fourth-round match with a thrilling 16-14 first-set tiebreaker win over No. 22 Alexandr Dolgopolov. Things got easier from there in a 7-6 (16-14), 6-4, 6-2 victory.
“It probably was the turning point, and after that, it was a better performance from my side,’’ Djokovic said of the tiebreaker, in which he saved four set points and converted his sixth.
In a match that didn’t start until nearly midnight, Roger Federer made quick work of Juan Monaco, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0, reaching his 30th straight major quarterfinal.
