Sports
Fish Falls in Five Sets at U.S. Open
The Beverly Hills resident is defeated in the fourth round by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
Mardy Fish drew the No. 8 seed for this year's United States Open and on Labor Day he was playing for a spot in the Elite Eight at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
The 29-year-old Beverly Hills resident appeared to be well on his way to a quarterfinal berth after taking a two-sets-to-one lead over 11th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but the 26-year-old Frenchman came back to win in five sets, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, at the final Grand Slam event of the tennis season.
It was the first career meeting between Fish and Tsonga. Monday's match lasted three hours and 45 minutes. Fish had his right leg treated by a trainer before the start of the fifth set. He ended the summer having won 17 of 21 matches.
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Fish had not dropped a set heading into his fourth-round match with Tsonga, who advances to a quarterfinal meeting with third-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland. Federer took a straight-sets win over Argentina's Juan Monaco on Monday night.
In the first round, Fish Tobias Kamke of Germany, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1; in the second round he swept Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; in the third round he swept South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).
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This is the second straight year that Fish has been eliminated in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. He was ousted by Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the fourth round last year. Fish now owns a 15-11 singles record in his 11 trips to the U.S. Open. His best result was a quarterfinal appearance in 2008 when he lost to Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
With the elimination of Fish, who was the highest-seeded American in the 128-player field, three Americans remain on the men's side. The highest seeded is No. 21 Andy Roddick, who plays fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain in the fourth round Tuesday.
John Isner, who lost to Fish in the finals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships this summer, is seeded No. 28 and plays 12th-seeded Gilles Simon of France in the fourth round. The third American still alive is unseeded Donald Young, who will try to upset No. 4 Andy Murray of Great Britain in the fourth round.
Nadal, the defending champion and No. 2 seed, takes on Gilles Muller of Luxembourg for the final quarterfinal spot Tuesday.
Fish won his sixth ATP Tour title this summer in Atlanta and of the Farmers Classic at UCLA the next week. He lost in the finals of the Rogers Cup in August, but rose to a in the world rankings.
The men's singles final is scheduled for next Sunday, Sept. 11—the 10-year anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
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