On the women’s side, Serena Williams also made it to familiar territory, but second seed Sofia Kenin crashed out to Elise Mertens.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at day eight at Flushing Meadows.
Picture of the day
Point of the day
there's casual and then there's not realizing that the point is still live 😂 pic.twitter.com/BortXGEge6
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2020
Bruno Soares was waiting so long for an umpire’s call that did not come that he almost did not play the point in his men’s doubles quarter-final win with Mate Pavic against his former partner Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski.
Stat of the day
This woman is unbelievable!
🧢 off, @serenawilliams. #TeamUSATennis pic.twitter.com/lCF2ZZ9WVlAdvertisement— USTA (@usta) September 7, 2020
Serena Williams’ passage to a 53rd grand slam quarter-final takes her level with Martina Navratilova and just one behind the all-time leader Chris Evert.
The dream comeback continues
Tsvetana Pironkova is one of the feel-good stories of the year in tennis.
Read about her comeback 👉 https://t.co/sWhRHQXpYx pic.twitter.com/0OdVraTbfy— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2020
There are comebacks and then there is Tsvetana Pironkova’s comeback. The 32-year-old is playing her first tournament since Wimbledon 2017 following her decision to come out of retirement after the birth of son Alexander. And her dream stay in New York got even better as she booked a last-eight meeting with Williams thanks to a 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-3 win over Alize Cornet.
Russian reunion
There will be an all-Russian men’s quarter-final after third seed Daniil Medvedev set up a meeting with his long-time friend Andrey Rublev. Medvedev, last year’s runner-up, was in imperious form, dropping just five games against Frances Tiafoe, while Rublev saw off Matteo Berrettini in four sets. The pair have been playing each other since they were seven-year-olds and are good friends.
Quote of the day
Of course, it's probably a little bit of a bigger chance for all of us to win the first slam.
Fallen seeds
Women: Sofia Kenin (2), Maria Sakkari (15), Karolina Muchova (20)
Men: Matteo Berrettini (6), Felix Auger-Aliassime (15)
Up next
It is the first instalment of quarter-finals day in the singles as Naomi Osaka takes on Shelby Rogers and Julia Brady is up against Yulia Putintseva in the women’s draw. All eyes will be on Pablo Carreno Busta against Denis Shapovalov and Alexander Zverev against Borna Coric in the men’s. Britain’s last man standing, Joe Salisbury, is in the men’s doubles semi-final, with his partner Rajeev Ram.
