U.S. Open Live Coverage: Day 7

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4:35 p.m.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat American Jack Sock in four sets to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second straight year.

After failing to covert one match point in the third-set tiebreaker, the ninth-seeded Tsonga dominated the fourth for the 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-2 victory Sunday.

Sock, the last man from the United States left in the draw, was trying to reach his first major quarterfinal. No American man has made the last eight at the U.S. Open since 2011.

The 26th-seeded Sock upset 2014 U.S. Open champ Marin Cilic in the third round, never facing a break point. But on Sunday, he had just five aces and was broken six times.

The U.S. Open is the only major at which Tsonga, the 2008 Australian Open runner-up, has not reached at least the semifinals.

Tsonga could next face top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who faces 21-year-old Kyle Edmund later Sunday. Asked what kind match he hoped for between those two, Tsonga joked, “really, really, really long.”

4 p.m.

Marcos Baghdatis was warned by a chair umpire for using his cellphone during a changeover while losing his U.S. Open fourth-round match against Gael Monfils.

Baghdatis, the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open, sat in his sideline chair after falling behind 4-1 in the second set and fiddled with his phone, holding it near a white towel that was on his lap.

Using a phone during a professional tennis match is not allowed, and chair umpire Alison Hughes noticed what was going on.

Later, Baghdatis told reporters he was messaging his wife.

2:50 p.m.

Caroline Wozniacki eliminated eighth-seeded American Madison Keys 6-3, 6-4 Sunday to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals, her deepest run at a Grand Slam tournament in two years.

Wozniacki is a two-time runner-up at Flushing Meadows, but she is unseeded and ranked only 74th after a season filled with injuries and poor results. She hadn’t won a match at a major in 2016 until arriving in New York.

She lost U.S. Open finals in 2009 against Kim Clijsters and 2014 against Serena Williams.

On Sunday, Wozniacki made only seven unforced errors, 26 fewer than Keys.

1:30 p.m.

Gael Monfils’ sizzling summer rolls on with a quarterfinal run at the U.S. Open.

The 10th-seeded Frenchman swept Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday to improve to 18-2 in matches he’s played since a first-round loss at Wimbledon. That stretch includes the highest-level tournament title of his career at Washington.

Three days after his 30th birthday, there were still classic Monfils moments in this one, including an attempt to tie his shoe in the middle of a point. But he has yet to drop at set at this U.S. Open.

The 31-year-old Baghdatis hadn’t reached a Grand Slam round of 16 since the 2009 Australian Open.

1:15 p.m.

Anastasija Sevastova, who retired from tennis for nearly two years, has reached her first major quarterfinal.

Sevastova upset 13th-seeded Johanna Konta 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday to become the first Latvian woman to make the final eight at a Grand Slam since Larisa Savchenko in 1994.
Still just 26 years old, Sevastova retired in 2013 because of a series of injuries that had made tennis no fun anymore. But she returned to the sport at the start of last season, and her ranking has steadily climbed to 48th.

Her previous best run at a major was a round of 16 appearance at the 2011 Australian Open.

As in her second-round upset of third-seeded Garbine Muguruza, Sevastova struggled to serve out the match. And as in that victory over the French Open champ, she finally closed out the win with a service break.

Sevastova broke Konta seven times in 11 service games.

Konta, an Australian Open semifinalist, collapsed to the court with trouble breathing during her second-round match, but she didn’t appear to have any physical problems Sunday.

1:05 p.m.

Roberta Vinci, last year’s U.S. Open runner-up, is back in the quarterfinals.

The seventh-seeded Italian beat 99th-ranked Lesia Tsurenko 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Sunday. Vinci has never reached the quarters at any of the other three Grand Slams, but she’s now done it four times at Flushing Meadows.

She made her first major final here last year at age 32, stunning Serena Williams in the semis to thwart the American’s Grand Slam bid.

Vinci has been bothered by an injured left Achilles tendon and struggled physically at times Sunday. Exhausted after the match, she had tears in her eyes.

The 27-year-old Tsurenko had never been past the third round at a major before this tournament.

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
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PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.

Mikael Ymer fined about $40K after default for hitting umpire stand with racket

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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PARIS — Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer was docked about $40,000 after being disqualified for smashing his racket against the umpire’s chair at a tournament the week before he competed at the French Open.

An ATP Tour spokesman said Ymer forfeited about $10,500 in prize money and 20 rankings he earned for reaching the second round of the Lyon Open. Ymer also was handed an on-site fine of about $29,000.

The spokesman said the ATP Fines Committee will conduct a review of what happened to determine whether any additional penalties are warranted.

The 56th-ranked Ymer, who is 24 and owns a victory over current No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, was defaulted in Lyon for an outburst late in the first set against French teenager Arthur Fils last week.

Ymer was upset that the chair umpire would not check a ball mark after a shot by Fils landed near a line. As the players went to the sideline for the ensuing changeover, Ymer smacked the base of the umpire’s stand with his racket twice – destroying his equipment and damaging the chair.

That led to Ymer’s disqualification, making Fils the winner of the match.

After his 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 loss to 17th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the first round at Roland Garros, Ymer was asked whether he wanted to explain why he reacted the way he did in Lyon.

“With all due respect, I think it’s pretty clear from the video what caused it and why I reacted the way I reacted. Not justifying it at all, of course,” Ymer replied. “But for me to sit here and to explain? I think it’s pretty clear what led me to that place. I think that’s pretty clear in the video.”