Verdasco Extinguishes American Hopes

© Getty ImagesFernando Verdasco is through to his first US Open quarter-final.

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco brought American hopes to an end Monday at Flushing Meadows after toppling 6’9” John Isner 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in fourth-round action. With Isner’s loss, it marked the first time that no American had reached the men’s quarter-finals in US Open history.

Isner, who had stunned top American Andy Roddick in a fifth-set tie-break on Saturday, got off to a promising start against his second straight Top 10 opponent. He broke his opponent’s serve twice to take the opening set, but could not maintain the momentum as Verdasco broke to start the next set. The World No. 10 followed with one more break of serve in each of the following sets, proving enough to complete the victory.

The 25-year-old Verdasco has now won nine straight matches – his longest winning streak – after capturing his first ATP World Tour hard-court title at Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven (d. Querrey) on the eve of the US Open. He eased through his first two matches this past week in straight sets, before rallying from a break down in the fifth set of his third-round match to defeat Tommy Haas.

Verdasco, who has a 49-25 Grand Slam record, is through to the US Open quarter-finals for the first time in his seventh event appearance. He reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final earlier this year at the Australian Open, defeating Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.

Verdasco next confronts Serbian No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic, who crushed 15th-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek in straight sets Monday night. Verdasco trails the series against Djokovic 2-3 with losses in their past three matches.

While American players had struggled at the 2009 US Open with Isner the lone representative in the fourth round, four Spaniards – Verdasco, Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo and Juan Carlos Ferrero – had reached this stage, matching the country’s best previous fourth round showing.

Isner had emerged as the last American standing after five of his countrymen, including US Open Series winner Sam Querrey and No. 21 seed James Blake, bowed out in their third round matches.

The 24 year old had gone winless in his six major appearances since making his Grand Slam debut in 2007 with a third-round finish at the US Open (l. to Federer), but snapped his losing streak with wins over No. 28 seed Victor Hanescu, Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan and World No. 5 Roddick this past week.

“I'm a little bit disappointed,” Isner said after the match. “I wanted to go further, but I played pretty well. Maybe I could have played a little bit better, but I just got outplayed today. I don't care what round you lose in, it's disappointing unless you win the tournament, just a little bit. It was a good tournament. I can build on this for the rest of the year.”

Isner missed three months of the season with mononucleosis, but compiled solid results on his return in mid-July, reaching the semi-finals at Indianapolis and Washington and the quarter-finals at Los Angeles. He entered the US Open ranked a career-high No. 55 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, and is expected to break into the Top 30 following his fourth-round run.