New York American men’s tennis slumped to an historic Grand Slam low on a sweltering Sunday at the US Open as Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray remained on course for a blockbuster semi-final.
Wildcard Tim Smyczek was America’s last hope of avoiding the embarrassment of not having a man in the fourth round of the country’s own Grand Slam for the first time in the Open era. But Spain’s Marcel Granollers put paid to that when he beat 109th-ranked Smyczek 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the last 16 and condemn the US to humiliation in a sport they once dominated.
No American man has reached the fourth round of any of the year’s four majors.
“I really wanted to win for you guys,” said Smyczek. “I just came up a little short.”
The US Open wipeout came on the heels of no US man reaching the third round at Wimbledon for the first time since 1912 and it leaves Andy Roddick as their most recent Grand Slam champion when he won in New York in 2003.
Djokovic, the reigning Australian Open champion and the US Open winner in 2011, brushed aside world No 95 Joao Sousa, the first Portuguese man to make the third round, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 to make the last 16.
Third-seeded defending champion Murray eased past Germany’s world No 49 Florian Mayer, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2 while 2001 champion Lleyton Hewitt maintained his dream run with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win over Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy.
Djokovic, who is bidding to reach the final for the fourth year in a row, next faces Granollers, who he has beaten in their only previous meeting, for a place in the quarter-finals.
“I just do my job, win in straight sets, and spend as little time on court as possible,” said Djokovic after unleashing 34 winners past the hapless Sousa.
Murray, who ended his country’s 76-year wait for a Grand Slam men’s champion when he won his maiden major title in New York last year, but his win over Mayer with 42 winners and seven aces.
“I think I need to start my matches quicker than I have been doing,” said the 26-year-old Scot. “I am not that fast out of the blocks. But once I got going I was striking the ball cleanly.”
Murray, the reigning Olympic and Wimbledon champion, will next face Uzbekistan’s world No 65 Denis Istomin, who put out 20th seed Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-1.
Istomin will be playing in the last 16 in New York for the first time after ending the Italian’s perfect streak of seven five-set wins in 2013. Two of those came against him at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Murray defeated Istomin in their only match in the quarter-finals at Brisbane in January this year.
