Djokovic quits with injury; Wawrinka reaches quarters

Stan Wawrinka led 6-4, 7-5, 2-1 when
Novak Djokovic quit with a left-shoulder
injury in the U.S. Open round of 16.
 File photo by Paul Bauman

   Stan Wawrinka is regaining the form that carried him to three Grand Slam singles titles.

   Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, is hurting. 

   Wawrinka, seeded 23rd, led 6-4, 7-5, 2-1 when the top-ranked Djokovic retired with a left-shoulder injury in the U.S. Open round of 16 on Sunday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   On the women's side, 18th-seeded Qiang Wang of China ousted second-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-2, 6-4, and eighth-seeded Serena Williams rolled her right ankle in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Petra Martic of Croatia.   

   Wawrinka, 34, had two operations on his left knee in August 2017, returned too soon and sat out again from February to May last year.

   Djokovic, 32, won his third U.S. Open singles title last year. On Sunday, he was seeking his third Grand Slam singles title of 2019 and 17th of his career, which would have pulled him within one of second-place Rafael Nadal. Roger Federer has 20.

   Wawrinka, the 2016 U.S. Open champion, is scheduled to play fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia on Tuesday. Medvedev, 23, eliminated qualifier Dominik Koepfer, the runner-up in the Aptos (Calif.) Challenger three weeks ago, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
   Medvedev beat Wawrinka in four sets in the first round at Wimbledon in 2017 in their only previous meeting.

   Wawrinka's Swiss countryman, the third-seeded Federer, thrashed 15th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 in 79 minutes. The 38-year-old Federer, who won the last of his five (consecutive) U.S. Open crowns in 2008, will meet resurgent Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

   Dimitrov, known as "Baby Fed" because his playing style is similar to Federer's, beat Alex De Minaur of Australia 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

   Federer is 7-0 against Dimitrov, who has tumbled from a career-high No. 3 in November 2017 to No. 78.
   Barty also lost in the round of 16 at Wimbledon after winning her first Grand Slam singles title in the French Open. The 37-year-old Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, will face Wang for the first time. 

   In the other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the women's draw, fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is set to play 16th-seeded Johanna Konta of Great Britain.

   Svitolina, coming off her first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon, beat Madison Keys, who won the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford and reached the U.S. Open final in 2017, 7-5, 6-4.

   Konta took out third-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-5. In 2016, Konta won the Bank of the West Classic, and Pliskova advanced to the U.S. Open final.

   Svitolina, 24, is 4-0 against Konta, 28.