US Open Diary Day 7

© Getty ImagesGilles Simon now heads home to France to meet his new-born son.

Baby On Board: There’s rarely any solace to be taken from losing a Grand Slam match. But Frenchman Gilles Simon still had reason to smile after falling to Rafael Nadal Sunday in the third round of the US Open.  Simon became a father Thursday when his girlfriend, Carine Lauret,  gave birth four weeks early to their first son, Timothée.

Had the pregnancy gone to plan, Simon would have been safely home for the arrival. Instead, he heard by phone Thursday morning that his son had been born, and an agonizing wait ensued. "When I woke up [Thursday] morning, she told me, 'Baby is coming'.  So it was a strange feeling.  I mean, I was alone in my room.  I definitely didn't want to be there, but I couldn't do anything.  I was expecting him to arrive four weeks later, so it's just bad luck."

Simon’s next match was not until Friday.  And when he defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber in five sets, he knew that he’d be in New York at least two more days.  Nadal finally ended Simon’s Open run Sunday, freeing up the Frenchman to return home.
 
Nadal passed a comment to Simon as the shook hands after the match. “He knows I'm impatient to see my baby,” Simon said. “He knows that I'm not really sad today, even if I lost."

Stat Of The Day: The first three games of the Fernando Verdasco-David Nalbandian match on Sunday took 23 minutes to complete. In contrast, the first set of the Novak Djokovic-James Blake match the previous night took just 22 minutes.

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Spanish Shut Out: The top quarter of the draw is wholly comprised of Spanish players: Rafael Nadal, Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco. The last time there was a shutout in one quarter of the US Open fourth round was in 1981 when Eliot Teltscher, Brian Gottfried, Mike Cahill and Jimmy Connors shared a quarter.

Six Of The Best: Spain has six players in the last 16, with Tommy Robredo and Albert Montanes (the only Spaniard) in the bottom half of the draw, joining the aforementioned quartet. That number equals the most Spanish players to advance to the fourth round at any Grand Slam. (Six Spaniards reached the round of 16 at Roland Garros in 1998.)