From Reuters: 
Top seed Rafael Nadal hes secured a place in the quarter-finals of the US Open with a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 win over American Sam Querrey in New York.
Chasing his first US Open title, Nadal made light work of the first set but found himself under pressure in the second and a string of unforced errors showed he was not invincible.
“Very tough,” Nadal said. “I’m very happy for the victory. Now I’m in my best round at the US Open and I hope to play better in the next round.”
The 20-year-old American used his powerful forehand to take advantage of some uncharacteristic mistakes by Nadal on his trademark forehand.
Though he lost his own serve twice, Querrey broke the world number one three times to take the set.
Buoyed by the home crowd, Querrey was going for his shots and hitting winners, while the French Open and Wimbledon champion pulled back on his serve and seemed to be tighter on his ground strokes than usual.
After taking the third, Nadal seemed back in charge in the fourth, dragging a weary Querrey in long rallies to win a break in the sixth game.
But Querrey refused to give up, creating seven break points in a nail-biting seventh game that Nadal had to dig deep to survive.
Survive he did, taking the match with a crushing overhead shot.
He now takes on another American in Mardy Fish, who reached the quarter finals at Flushing Meadows for the first time by ruining Gael Monfils’s 22nd birthday celebrations.
Fish handed the French 32nd seed a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 drubbing in the fourth round.
In the women’s draw, Dinara Safina’s pursuit of a maiden grand slam title gathered momentum when she defeated German qualifier Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5, 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals.
The Russian sixth seed has reached six finals in her last seven tournaments.
She next takes on Italian Flavia Pennetta, who crushed Amelie Mauresmo 6-3, 6-0.
The 29-year-old Frenchwoman coughed up 14 doubles and 40 unforced errors to help 16th seed Pennetta reach her first grand slam quarter-final.
-Reuters
pic CC Attribution thanks to upabreak.com
