The writing has been on the wall for a while now but Roger Federer’s fourth round loss to Spanish player Tommy Robredo confirmed the decline in the career of the five-time US Open Champion here in New York.
The 32 year-old number 7 seed lost in straight sets to a player who has only won three sets in their last ten matches and now Robredo will go on to face Rafael Nadal in the last eight.
Nadal got off to a shaky start losing the first set tie-breaker to German Philipp Kohlschreiber but fought back well to take the next three sets 6-4,6-3,6-1. The number two seed was cut to 11/8 for the tournament with bookmakers Coral now he has avoided the quarter final clash with Federer.
The third Spanish player to reach the last eight was David Ferrer; he had to go to four sets to beat number 18 seed Janko Tipsarevic and now has a tough battle on his hands against Frenchman Richard Gasquet who won in five sets against the Canadian Milos Raonic.
In the other half of the draw top seed Novak Djokovic and the defending champion Andy Murray both play today and should come through without much fuss. Djokovic could play the rejuvenated Lleyton Hewitt in the last eight while Murray looks certain to play Tomas Berdych who is now the fourth favourite for the tournament.
Latest Odds with Bet365:
- 6/5 R.Nadal
- 13/8 N.Djokovic
- 3/1 A.Murray
- 28/1 T.Berdych
- 33/1 D.Ferrer
- 66/1 R.Gasquet
- 100/1 T.Robredo
- 125/1 L.Hewitt
- 150/1 Bar