US Open Tennis 2011: Recapping Thursday's Results

Wednesday was not a fun day at the 2011 U.S. Open. It was gray, it was wet, and it was entirely devoid of tennis.

Thursday, on the other hand, was a different story. It was nice and sunny, and there was plenty of good tennis to be found.

In case you missed any of the action, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick were all in action on the men's side of things, and the women's bracket had the likes of Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki engaging in quarterfinals matches.

In so many words, anybody who's anybody was in action at Flushing Meadows. Let's take a look and see how they did.

Top Story

It has to be Djokovic's quarterfinal match against fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic. It was epic.

Just like in his fourth-round match against Alexandr Dolgopolov, Djokovic's first set against Tipsarevic went to a tiebreaker. This one didn't last quite as long, but Djokovic was still able to take it 7-2 to wrap up the first set in a tidy 84 minutes.

But Tipsarevic wasn't going away that easily. He took the world's No. 1 player to a tiebreaker again, and this time won 7-3 to even the match at a game apiece. At that point, it looked like Djokovic had found his equal.

Alas, that was as far as Tipsarevic could take things. Djokovic took the third set 6-0 in just 33 minutes, and quickly went up 3-0 in the fourth set. At that point, Tipsarevic threw in the towel. Instead of continuing, he retired. Like that, Djokovic had punched his ticket to the semifinals.

Elsewhere in the men's bracket, Rafael Nadal was able to dispatch Gilles Muller in straight sets 7-6 (7-1), 6-1, 6-2 to move on to the quarterfinals. Andy Murray also won in straight sets, beating Donald Young in their fourth-round match 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.

In the women's bracket, the top story involved Serena Williams notching yet another straight sets victory, this time over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She's on to the semifinals to face world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Andrea Petkovic.

Biggest Upset

Is Andy Roddick back?

We won't know that for sure unless he ends up winning the tournament, but Roddick looked pretty good in dispatching David Ferrer, the No. 5 seed, in four sets 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Roddick, who entered the tournament as the No. 21 seed, is now in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2008.

On the women's side, you had ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur taking out world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. In addition, Angelique Kerber's win over Flavia Pennetta definitely counts as an upset. Pennetta entered the tournament as the No. 26 seed, but the unseeded Kerber beat her in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

American Men Results

Despite the fact Young beat Murray earlier this year, it wasn't exactly a surprise that Young lost to Murray this time around. The 24-year-old Scot can be unpredictable at times, but he's still one of the best players out there.

In addition to Roddick pulling off an upset over Ferrer, 28th-seeded John Isner was able to come out on top of 12th-seed Gilles Simon. Their match lasted well over three hours, but Isner was able to take it in four grueling sets 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4).

American Women Results

Only one is still standing, and it's Serena. Pavlyuchenkova put up a good fight in the first set, but Serena was able to win 7-5, 6-1.

Recap

On the whole, it was a pretty eventful day. That players like Djokovic, Nadal and Murray on the men's side and Serena on the women's side all advanced didn't really come as much of a surprise, but it was cool to see Roddick and Isner pull off upsets to stay alive. That there were a couple of those on the women's side was also pretty cool.

It all picks up again on Friday. Hopefully the rains will stay away.