Nadal, Murray also move on as tourney finally resumes after rain delays
APAndy Roddick beat David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Thursday.
By HOWARD FENDRICH
updated 6:58 p.m. ET Sept. 8, 2011
NEW YORK - Even in Thursday's perfect weather, Andy Roddick ran into trouble completing a rain-delayed victory at the U.S. Open ? this time, because of water seeping through a crack behind a baseline in the tournament's second-largest stadium.
At least he finally got to finish a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over fifth-seeded David Ferrer, which Roddick celebrated by high-fiving spectators at cramped Court 13. Two days of wet weather gave way to sunshine, and defending champion Rafael Nadal and 2008 runner-up Andy Murray managed to work their way into the quarterfinals, too, by wrapping up straight-set victories.
Still, because of rain earlier in the week, the tournament decided Thursday afternoon to revamp its schedule and push the men's final to Monday at 4 p.m. EDT ? 24 hours later than originally planned. The women's final was shifted from Saturday night to Sunday at 4 p.m. It'll be the fourth consecutive year that the U.S. Open ends on Monday.
Before the change was made, one of the men's finalists faced the prospect of playing four best-of-five-set matches in four days, back-to-back-to-back-to-back, something Nadal called "not fair." Now the men will get Sunday off.
The start-and-stop, fourth-round match between 2003 U.S. Open champion Roddick and Ferrer was supposed to begin Tuesday, when showers washed away all play. They got on court Wednesday, but only for about 15 minutes, enough to play four games. And Thursday, they played for less than 10 minutes ? two more games ? before Roddick pointed out a damp spot in Louis Armstrong Stadium that made it dangerous to play.
So eventually, they were ushered from that 10,103-seat arena over to 584-capacity Court 13, while fans ran and pushed their way up the stairs to the bleachers in the new locale. At one point, Roddick said, he saw someone trying to scale a fence to get a peek at the action.
"I thought the atmosphere was great. People packed in," Roddick said, recalling he last played on Court 13 as a junior in 1999. "I'd rather play a smaller court and have it packed, than playing a bigger court and have it a quarter full."
The U.S. Tennis Association later issued a statement saying: "Until this situation is rectified, no further play will occur on Louis Armstrong Stadium."
Elsewhere, No. 2-seeded Nadal beat 68th-ranked Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-2 in Arthur Ashe Stadium; No. 4 Murray eliminated 84th-ranked Donald Young of the United States 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in the Grandstand; and No. 28 John Isner got past No. 12 Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) on Court 17.
Roddick next faces Nadal with a semifinal berth at stake.
"I'm going to have to play pretty aggressively now, similar to what I did today," the 21st-seeded Roddick said. "He's one of the greatest ever, so I'm going to have to have a repeat, at least."
Murray plays Isner, who reached the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career.
On the other half of the men's draw, they already were into the quarterfinals, and No. 1 Novak Djokovic faced No. 20 Janko Tipsarevic on Thursday afternoon, while 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer was scheduled to play No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at night.
"I was saying I hope it rains tonight," Murray said, "because then everyone is then in the same boat, really."
Nadal was down a break and trailing Muller 3-0 when play was stopped Wednesday because of rain. He, Roddick and Murray then marched to the office of tournament referee Brian Earley to voice their complaints about the safety of the courts and make the case that they never should have been sent out to play in the first place.
Nadal also raised a bigger concern, which he discussed at his postmatch news conference Thursday: Players should have more say about how Grand Slam events are run.
"The problem is we don't have enough power in these kind of tournaments," Nadal said. "That's what have to change very soon."
One specific criticism he leveled at the U.S. Open is that it's the only major tournament where the men are slated to play the semifinals Saturday, and the final Sunday, without a day of rest in between. He called that schedule "something crazy for the players." But the changes made later Thursday by the USTA rendered that complaint moot this year.
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Roddick, Isner reach quarters
��Andy Roddick finally concluded his rain-delayed match, beating Gilles Simon to join fellow American John Isner in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
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