After a long flight home and a lot of sleeping, I’m good to go again!

So, Day 7 saw Diego Schwartman’s run continue after he beat Lucas Pouile in four sets. The Argentine looked to be having problems with his back but ground this out. The dream continues and he will play his pal, Pablo Carreno Busta in the last 8. I would expect this match to have its fair share of breaks and to have some brutal/punishing points, it should be highly entertaining! I just hope Diego is fit! PCB beat Denis Shapovalov in three tie-breaks and with it remains the highest ranked player in the bottom half of the draw! Kevin Anderson beat Paolo Lorenzi in four and it will be a straight shoot out with Sam Querrey for a place in the semi’s! Querrey absolutely hammered Mischa Zverev in around an hour and a quarter in the late night match on the Ashe, the German was struggling with a shoulder complaint, only winning five games.

Petra Kvitova took out Garbine Muguruza, this is unquestionably a big win! Muguruza had been the stand out performer so far and in what was a heavy weight contest Kvitova got the big blows in and by all account went for the Spaniard’s forehand! The Czech plays Venus Williams in the last 8 after she beat Carla Suarez Navarro in three, Venus getting it done in the third by reeling off the last 6 games. This will be prime time stuff with both players so desperate for another slam and two players that both deserve to win another! I thought Sevastova might have a bit too much variety for Sharapova and so it proved. You can still get to Sharapova by mixing it up! The Latvian will play Sloane Stephens who beat Julia Goerges in what sounded a high-quality affair, Sloane has looked very focused. Exciting times ahead look a reality for Stephens!

Day 8 in the Women’s saw Karolina Pliskova hammer Jennifer Brady 6/1 6/0, with it all being a bit too much for the American. She plays Coco Vandeweghe who outgunned Lucie Safarova in straights. Passion and character from Coco here. She will like her chances against Pliskova. Kaia Kanepi has made the last 8 in NYC, seven years after last doing it, she beat Daria Kasatkina. She faces the big task of Madison Keys next after she beat Elina Svitolina. Svitolina threw this one away, letting Keys back in and when you do that you are in danger of the American hitting a hot spell and so it was!

Day 8 in the Men’s saw easy wins for both Nadal and Federer, who are only one match away from an almighty semi-final! Nadal crushed Alexandr Dolgopolov, in what was his best performance of the tournament so far. Federer beat Kohlschreiber in straights but did go off the court at the end of the second set to have treatment on his quad area! Federer plays Juan Martin Del Potro next, Del Boy came from two sets down against Dominic Thiem, having lost the first two sets 1/6 2/6. Del Potro said he thought of retiring in the second set as he couldn’t breathe. Thiem also served for this at 5/4 in the third and the Argentine saved two match points. The crowd seemed to drag him through this one, quite remarkable scenes! Nadal will face Andrey Rublev next. Like I have already said Goffin still doesn’t seem right at the moment and Rublev comfortably came through in straights. The Russian hitting some big winners on the forehand side. He will have nothing to lose in the last 8 against Rafa.

In my hast on the last blog, I forgot to congratulate Serena and Alexis on the happy couples first born, but in my defence, I had already done this on twitter. Great news on the baby girl! Fognini has had a bit of U-turn and is apologising to everyone about his behaviour in the singles event! Watch this space!

Andy Del Potro