Defending champion Rafael Nadal and fourth seed Andy Murray reached the US Open quarter-finals after two days of frustration while Andy Roddick stormed off court in an angry tirade against officials.
Second seed Nadal saw off Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-1), 6-1, 6-2 while fourth seed and 2008 runner-up Murray cruised to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 win over US wild card Donald Young.
But it was 2003 champion Roddick who grabbed the headlines when his last-16 clash against David Ferrer was suspended because of water seeping up through a crack in the surface on Louis Armstrong Stadium following another night of torrential rain.
After playing just two games of their resumed match, the players were taken off court as groundstaff tried desperately for 80 minutes to soak up the water.
When Roddick and Ferrer returned, the 29-year-old American was furious, telling besieged referee Brian Earley that the surface was still too wet to play.
He packed his bag and stormed off to jeers from the crowd.
"Why are we here if there is water there?" asked a furious Roddick.
"I'm getting really pissed off. Jesus, what are we doing here. It's killing me. I am baffled right now."
The match was switched to Court 13 as officials kept up their bid to clear a huge backlog caused by two days being washed out by rain.
The switch did not affect Roddick too much as he completed a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over fifth-seeded Ferrer and next faces Nadal for a semi-final spot.
Officials decided to suspend all further play on Louis Armstrong which meant the women's quarter-final between top seed Caroline Wozniacki and Andrea Petkovic was also played on Court 13.
Nadal, Murray hang tough
Nadal had trailed Muller 0-3 overnight after just 15 minutes of play had been possible on Wednesday, but with bright sunshine replacing rain, the Spaniard raced into the last eight.
The Spaniard has endured a dramatic US Open, collapsing with cramping at a news conference after his third round win over David Nalbandian before his frustrating two days waiting for the rain to clear.
He made up for lost time, taking less than two hours to complete victory over the 68th-ranked Muller who he had also defeated at Wimbledon this year.
Murray avenged his loss to the 84th-ranked Young at Indian Wells in March to reach the last eight for the first time since he fell in the 2008 final to Roger Federer.
Young had held a 2-1 lead when rain brought proceedings to a halt on Wednesday.
But Murray showed no ill-effects from the repeated delays as the 22-year-old American's bid to become the first wild card to reach the quarters since James Blake in 2005 was doomed by 53 unforced errors.
Murray said he will steel himself for the posibility of playing four matches in four days.
"It's not ideal, but that's kind of what you have to deal with just now. It was raining anyway so there was nothing we could have done about it at the time and there's no covers," he said.
"So you've just got to try and embrace the situation and do all the right things to get yourself ready if you have to play four matches in four days. But I'm still a long way from having to play four matches in four days."
Murray next faces 28th-seeded American John Isner who defeated 12th-seeded Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4) to reach a grand slam semi-final for the first time.
AFP
Tags: tennis, sport, united-states First posted September 09, 2011 06:05:55
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