Third seed Juan Martin del Potro crushed Croatia’s Borna Coric 6-4 6-3 6-1 at the US Open on Sunday in New York to set up a quarterfinal clash with American John Isner.
The Argentine tennis player sent down nine aces and 33 winners to seal a one-sided victory over the 20th seed in just over two hours, with Coric making 30 unforced errors to undermine his own cause, Reuters reported.
The Croatian needed a medical timeout in the second set and was then blown away by Del Potro’s booming forehand in the third, surrendering the set in just 30 minutes.
Del Potro, champion in 2009, got an early break to go 3-1 up in the first before Coric fought back to level at 4-4, converting the only break point he carved out in the match.
The opener looked to be heading for a tiebreak before Del Potro dispatched a backhand volley to earn himself two more break points in the 10th game.
Coric rallied for deuce but double faulted to give Del Potro another break point opportunity and conceded the set with an unforced error.
Both players suffered in the humid conditions under the floodlights at Arthur Ashe Stadium, but Del Potro fed off the energy of the crowd, including a group of his friends who have traveled from his hometown Tandil to cheer him on.
Top seed Rafael Nadal set up an intriguing US Open quarterfinal showdown with Dominic Thiem after snuffing out a comeback attempt by Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili with a 6-3 6-3 6-7(6) 6-4 win on Sunday.
The world number one looked like he would cruise to an easy win after pocketing the first two sets but the Georgian stepped up his game to take the third.
The US Open champion would not be denied, however, and fired his seventh ace on match point to end the three hour, 20-minute tussle.
Nadal praised the 26-year-old Basilashvili, who will break into the top 30 for the first time when the new rankings are released after the tournament.
Basilashvili only managed to convert two of his seven break point opportunities and committed 59 unforced errors to Nadal’s 19 on a partly cloudy day at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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