Wawrinka, DelPo into US Open quarters

Two-time major champion Stan Wawrinka blew a lead, smashed a racquet and eventually pulled out a four-set victory to reach his fourth straight US Open quarter-final.

After saving a match point in a five-set win in his last outing, Wawrinka was cruising against 63rd-ranked Illya Marchenko, who was playing in his first Grand Slam round of 16.

Serving for the match in the third set, the third-seeded Wawrinka was broken and went on to lose a tiebreaker.

After going down a break early in the fourth, Wawrinka took his frustrations out on his racket. He proceeded to win the next four games to regain control on the way to a 6-4 6-1 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 victory on Monday.

Marchenko had dropped the first set of his third-round match against 14th-seeded Nick Kyrgios but won the next two as the Australian struggled with a hip injury that eventually forced him to retire.

Wawrinka next faces 2009 US Open champ Juan Martin del Potro, who beat him at Wimbledon this year.

Earlier, Juan Martin del Potro booked his spot in the final eight when Dominic Thiem retired in the second set of their match.

The eighth-seeded Thiem took a medical timeout to have trainers look at his right knee after the set’s fifth game. He returned to the court for one point before deciding he couldn’t go on.

Del Potro had won the first set 6-3 and was up a break in the second.

Thiem, who turned 23 on Saturday, has had a breakthrough year, reaching the French Open semi-finals and cracking the top 10, but the long season was starting to wear on his body.

Del Potro knows all about that. The 2009 US Open champ missed the tournament the last two years after surgeries on his left wrist.

But his stunning run to the Olympic silver medal signalled he’s a contender again.

At No.142, del Potro is the lowest-ranked US Open quarter-finalist since Jimmy Connors in 1991.

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