Federer Levite, Serena fall, Barty and Pliskova collapse

That's it, Roger Federer found his good feelings and qualified for Sunday for his 13th quarterfinal of the US Open, a stadium that did not reach the world No.2 Ashleigh Barty.

The public favorite Serena Williams has logically imposed despite an alert injury on the court Arthur-Ashe, while waiting for the titleholder Novak Djokovic at the end of the night session. World No.3 Karolina Pliskova has left Flushing Meadows.

"It was great, like the previous game I had great sensations, but he did not play at his best," said Federer of his day's opponent, Belgian David Goffin ( 15th).

The world No.3 had lost a set early in the game in his first two rounds, before mastering head and shoulders in the third round the British Daniel Evans 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in 1:20.

He was even more severe with Goffin than he swept 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 in 1:19.

Federer scored 10 aces, scored 83% on his first serve, converted 9 of his 10 break points, scored 35 winners and committed just 17 unforced errors …

"I'm very happy with my level today," said Switzerland, who has five Flushing Meadows titles with Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors.

He qualified for his 13th quarterfinal at the US Open, like Andre Agassi but four more lengths of the record of Connors. In total, he will play, at age 38 against Grigor Dimitrov (78th), his 56th quarterfinal Grand Slam, a record.

– The ankle of Serena –

Not surprisingly, Serena Williams also qualified by defeating Croatian Petra Martic (22) 6-3, 6-4. Unsurprisingly, but not without fear since the American twisted her right ankle she quickly made it hard.

"I said to myself, oh no, not again, I'm just starting to walk!", She said, referring to knee and back injuries that thwarted her 2019 season.

She reached the quarter-finals of the US Open for the 16th time and won the 1st of her six titles 20 years ago.

"I'm so old?" she exclaimed when asked what it was doing to her.

– Surprise Barty –

The surprises of the start of the day came from court Louis-Armstrong where N.2 world-wide Ashleigh Barty, laureate of Roland-Garros, and N.3 Karolina Pliskova, always in search of a title in Grand Slam, were eliminated.

The Australian fell to Wang Qiang of China (18th) 6-2, 6-4 in 1h22.

"I just tried to do my best," said Wang, who had never reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.

How will she prepare for her next match against Williams? "It's my coach's job to tell me how to play, I'm going to enjoy this win," said the 27-year-old.

For his part, Barty could only see the superiority of his opponent of the day: "Qiang was very strong, very solid, she was able to play very deep to put me in difficulty, I had some opportunities, but 'is frustrating because on the important points today Qiang has played much better,' said the 23-year-old Australian.

Pliskova was eliminated by the Briton Johanna Konta (16th) 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 7-5.

The 28-year-old Briton had never moved past the 8th finals at Flushing Meadows so "climbing one more step is a huge achievement for me!", She told the audience.

Konta has already reached the semifinals in Grand Slam, Australia in 2016, Wimbledon in 2017 and Roland Garros on three occasions this year.