U.S. Open 2012: Mardy Fish Withdraws, Serena Dominates

The men’s Round of 16 continues at the U.S. Open on Tuesday, with the highlight match being Andy Roddick taking on Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro in the 7 p.m. slot at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Roddick is attempting to continue a run to the final, and plans to retire at the end of the tournament. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic will take on Stanislas Wawrinka as the last match of the 11 a.m. slot.

No. 1 ranked Victoria Azarenka will face off against Samantha Stosur at 11 a.m. in the highest-profile women’s singles match of the day.

Andy Murray moved into the quarterfinals of the 2012 U.S. Open with a straight-set victory over Canadian Milos Raonic at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night. The match was moved up to 7 p.m. ET to avoid inclement weather predicted in the New York City area.

Murray, the men’s No. 3, was dominant on his serve as he did not face a break point in the entire match. He moves on to face 12th-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia. Cilic advanced with a victory over Martin Klizan.

Marin Cilic of Croatia had to grind through two hard-fought sets with Martin Klizan of Slovakia before pulling away in the third set for a 7-5, 6-4, 6-0 fourth-round victory. The match lasted a total of two hours and two minutes.

Cilic took control of the match with his ability to capture the majority of the break points he got, winning seven of ten breaks; Klizan, on the other hand, only managed two of seven. Cilic won 74% of his first serve points compared to 58% for Klizan, and also managed to capture 10 of 13 net points. Despite having only 23 winners to Klizan’s 32, the Slovakian also produced 41 unforced errors that undercut his ability to win. Klizan would lose both the first and second point on unforced errors on break points.

World No. 20 Roberta Vinci upset second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-1, 6-4, on Monday afternoon to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2012 U.S. Open. It’s the furthest that the Italian has ever advanced in singles at a major tournament.

Radwanska didn’t look nearly as strong on Monday after beating former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic on Saturday to advance to the fourth round. She struggled to put away points quickly against Vinci, who was able to convert significantly more winners.

American Serena Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2012 U.S. Open in dominating fashion, cruising past the Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlavackova 6-0, 6-0 on Monday at Flushing Meadows. The No. 4 seed, Williams won 13-of-17 first serve points and seemingly found a groove in two sets that took just 22 and 35 minutes, respectively.

The match was a familiar one for Williams, who with sister Venus Williams, defeated Hlavackova and her teammate in the 2012 London Olympics gold medal match for women’s doubles.

American Mardy Fish has withdrawn from the 2012 U.S. Open on Monday because of heart palpitations following his Sunday victory over Gilles Simon, according to tennis writer Tom Tebbutt.

The No. 23 seed Fish was set to take on No. 1 seed Roger Federer at Arthur Ashe Stadium later this afternoon. Now, Federer, the top-ranked player in the world, advances to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows. He will play the winner of No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and No. 11 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

The No. 12 seed from Serbia, Ana Ivanovic bested Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4, in early action Monday at the 2012 U.S. Open. Ivanovic struggled in Round 4 against Sloane Stephens, dropping the first set in a tiebreak, but she got off to a hot start against Pironkova

On the stat sheet, the match was remarkably close. Ivanovic had just two aces, made a total of 21 unforced errors and only managed to win 61 percent of her first serve points (with 48 percent of her first serves in). Pironkova had an ace, just two more unforced errors at 23, and a higher percentage of first serves in with 57 percent. Still, she only managed to win 35 percent of her first serves.

The 2012 U.S. Open is moving along swiftly and we are nearing quarterfinals portion of the tournament. Many of the world’s top players are still in contention at this year’s final major event, which means we should be in for a great second week of tennis. Here is a schedule of the top draws for Monday. All times are Eastern Standard Time.

TV Coverage: CBS from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. ESPN2 from 7 to 11 p.m.

John Isner had to wait through a lengthy rain delay before even taking the court Sunday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium for his match with Philipp Kohlschreiber. But his eventual five-set defeat probably magnified the pain of the wait.

The No. 19 seed German won a tight first set, 6-4, by winning the only break point he had. Isner was sharper in the second set, winning 6-3 in just 37 minutes and collecting five aces.

Roger Federer once again highlights the men’s action in the U.S. Open, with the top-seeded player taking on American Mardy Fish in the Men’s Round of 16 set to begin on Monday.

The highlight of the round will likely be Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro taking on No. 20 Andy Roddick, who will hope to stave off his retirement for one more round against the No. 8 seed. The winner of that match will face the winner of No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 18 Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals.