Murray humbled but Nadal and Clijsters storm through

Andy Murray was a major casualty at the US Open on Sunday but Rafael Nadal stormed through as did Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams in the women’s tournament.

The 23-year-old Scot was out of sorts against Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka and his challenge to Nadal and Roger Federer ended in a crushing 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss.

“He played better than me. There’s not a whole lot more to it,” the defeated fourth seed said.

“He had a chance to win the first set; didn’t take it. I had a chance to win the second set; didn’t take it. I just struggled from then on.”

Nadal led a Spanish charge with five of their number making it through to the eight fourth-round slots available in the top half of the draw.

The others were eighth seed Fernando Verdasco, 10th seed David Ferrer, 23rd seed Feliciano Lopez and the unseeded Tommy Robredo.

Nadal takes on Lopez and Verdasco goes up against Ferrer in another quarter-final, making it certain there will be at least one Spaniard in the semi-finals.

The top seed was never troubled against Gilles Simon, winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, and he has yet to drop a set in three matches.

“I am in fourth round. That’s good news for me – without losing a set – but there remains a lot to do. I am happy where I am, but it is only the fourth round,” Nadal said.

Others through to the last 16 in the top half were US hope Sam Querrey, who defeated Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny who edged American John Isner 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 , 6-4.

Wawrinka next plays Querrey and Youzhny takes on Robredo.

In the women’s tournament, defending champion Kim Clisters won the billed match of the day, trouncing former world number one Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-1, a victory that was her 18th in a row at Flushing Meadows.

Clijsters was the first player through to the quarter-finals and there she will face Australian fifth seed Samantha Stosur, who ousted Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva 6-3, 2-6, 7-6.

The Belgian second seed said she quickly adapted to the breezy conditions.

“With the wind you have to adjust,” she said.

“I started moving forward, dictating the points better. I was playing good defence as well.”

The other quarter-final in the bottom half of the draw sees French Open champion Francesca Schiavone go up against Venus Williams who saw off a strong early challenge from Shahar Peer before winning 7-6, 6-3.

Schiavone topped Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-0 with her finest display of tennis since winning her maiden Grand Slam title in Paris in June.

Playing against Williams will be a much different prospect for the Italian, however, as she has lost all seven matches they have played to date.

Results: (Men) Djokovic bt Fish 6-3 6-4 6-1; Monfils bt Gasquet 6-4 7-5 7-5. (Women) Cibulkova bt Kuznetsova 7-5 7-6.