Djokovic beats Fish into U.S. Open quarters

Novak Djokovic of Serbia eased into the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open with a straight sets demolition of home hope Mardy Fish in their fourth round on Monday.

The Serbian took just one hour and 50 minutes to complete a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 win over Fish, who came into the final grand slam in the form of his life but was comprehensively outmatched by the third seed.

"It was a great performance and my best so far in tournament," Fish told Sky Sports.

Djokovic will play quarterfinals against Gael Monfils, who beat Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 in an earlier all-French clash.

"I have a tough opponent but the way I'm playing I have a good chance," said Djokovic, who has a career 4-0 advantage over Monfils.

Djokovic was runner-up in 2007 and reached the semifinals for the past two years, each time losing to Roger Federer, who is a potential last four opponent again.

Federer was playing Austrian 13th seed Jurgen Melzer in the night match later on Labor Day.

A single break of service was enough to give Djokovic a two sets to love lead and two more wrapped up the match in comprehensive style.

Monfils reached his third grand slam quarterfinal and became the first Frenchman into the last eight at the U.S. Open since Arnaud Clement in 2000.

A single break of service gave Monfils a two sets lead, but he was broken to trail 2-5 in the third until reeling off five games in a row.

The victory took just over two and a half hours and Monfils was pleased to stick with his game plan.

"My plan was to try to break him physically and break him in the head," Monfils said. "I think I did pretty good."

Source: Xinhua