By Chris Soderstrom
After falling a set behind and succumbing to a hip injury, Novak Djokovic staged a remarkable comeback to squeeze past 15 th seeded Spaniard Robby Robredo and into the US Open quarter-finals.
The World No. 3 raised his arms after triumphing 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in a match where he looked down and out after going to a fifth set.
“I need to stay next to the net otherwise I will fall down,” said the Serb immediately after the match, which lasted three hours and 45 minutes. “Really. It was an incredible match.”
The match was a slugfest, with the 21-year-old hammering 11 aces and hitting 55 winners. However, on the flip-side, he committed 58 unforced errors to Robredo’s 42.
Djokovic now meets Andy Roddick in a highly anticipated quarter-final, after the American ousted Olympic silver medalist Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-1 in the fourth round.
Luxembourg qualifier Gilles Muller is proving to be the surprise packet of the tournament springing a shock 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(10) defeat upon Russian fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko in the fourth round.
Muller’s quarter-final opponent is Roger Federer. The Swiss genius kept hopes of a fifth straight US Open title alive this morning with yet another hard fought five set battle. The 27-year-old defeated 23rd seed Igor Andreev 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.