Fish falters in U.S. Open; Federer breezes

NEW YORK – Mardy Fish found himself dealing with all sorts of problems as he tried to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second time.

There was the brief flap with his opponent, 11th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and the chair umpire over some distracting cheering in the stands.

There were the aching right hip and hamstring that left Fish flat on his back, getting massaged by a trainer before the fifth set.

There was the pressure of knowing that he was, for the first time, the highest-ranked American at the country’s Grand Slam tennis tournament.

There was the whipping wind that sent shots this way and that.

And then, of course, there was Tsonga, the big-hitting, athletic Frenchman, who feels more confident than ever – and it shows. The eighth-seeded Fish wasted a lead and lost the fourth-round match at Flushing Meadows 6-4, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Monday night to end his tournament.

So it will be Tsonga, not Fish, who will take on 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Federer made it that far for the 30th straight major tournament by beating 36th-ranked Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 in a match that began at 11:50 EDT Monday night and finished shortly before 1:15 a.m. today.

Federer played brilliantly right from the start, taking the first five games – and 20 of the first 25 points – in only 12 minutes.

He earned a rematch against Tsonga, who pulled off a stunner in the Wimbledon quarterfinals two months ago by becoming the first man to beat Federer in a Grand Slam match after dropping the first two sets.

The start of their match was delayed because the preceding match in Arthur Ashe Stadium – No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki’s 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova – lasted 3 hours, 2 minutes.

Wozniacki faces No. 10 Andrea Petkovic of Germany next