World No. 1 Roger Federer advanced into his 34th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final without touching a racquet yesterday when American Mardy Fish withdrew from their US Open match for health reasons.
The 31-year-old Swiss star, seeking his 18th Grand Slam title and sixth US Open crown, advanced into a last-eight matchup against Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, who dispatched Spanish 11th seed Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-1.
“I probably need to have something more than 100 per cent,” said Berdych, who has lost 11 of 15 career meetings to top seed Federer.
The walkover stretched Federer’s record for consecutive quarter-final Grand Slam appearances in the Open era to 38, three shy of the record 41 achieved by American Jimmy Connors.
Federer, who won his 17th Grand Slam title in July at Wimbledon, has not dropped a set in the Flushing Meadows fortnight.
Fish missed two months of the season earlier this year because of a heart problem, being hospitalized after the Miami Masters event in March when his heart rate increased to three times its normal resting pace.
Fish, 30, then had a cardiac catheter ablation in Los Angeles on May 23 to address his heart condition.
Berdych, who took only two hours to reach his first US Open quarter-final, has won three of his past six meetings with Federer, including a US Open tuneup last year at Cincinnati and a 2010 Wimbledon quarter-final.
Berdych finally reached the last eight after 10 tries with his 200th career hardcourt triumph. He joined Petr Korda and Ivan Lendl as the only Czech men in the Open era to have reached the quarter-finals at all four Grand Slam events.
Serena through
Serena Williams demolished unseeded Czech Andrea Hlavackova with a ‘double bagel’ 6-0 6-0 victory yesterday to set up a quarter-finals showdown with Serbian Ana Ivanovic.
The fourth-seeded American, who has dropped only 12 games though her first four matches at Flushing Meadows, needed just 57 minutes to book her spot in the round of eight against former world number one Ivanovic.
The 12th-seeded Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion, beat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-0 6-4 in her fourth-round match.
Other result: (Women) Errani bt Kerber 7-6, 6-3.