http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/sports/tennis/juan-martin-del-potro-quarterfinals-jimmy-connors-flashback.html 2016-09-06 03:08:00 Juan Martín del Potro, Ranked No. 142, Reaches Quarterfinals in a Jimmy Connors Flashback Del Potro became the lowest-ranked United States Open quarterfinalist since the 174th-ranked Connors in 1991. === In the 25th anniversary year of his memorable run to There was Connors’s name in the same sentence as that of There was Connors’s name in the same sentence as that of Ivo Karlovic, who at 37 was Only one of them, del Potro, will continue to be compared to Connors this week. Karlovic lost to sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Nishikori, a finalist here in 2014, will face the winner of Monday night’s match between the No. 2-ranked player in the world, Andy Murray, who is also seeded second, and 22nd-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. Del Potro advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in three years when eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem retired from their fourth-round match with a right knee injury. Del Potro led, 6-3, 3-2, at the time. Thiem said that his knee had been bothering him for three days and that he could not bend it without pain. That was apparent in the grimaces he made when getting down for a volley. Thiem, a 23-year-old Austrian, said he had been “running strange” because of blisters on his toes, but he had not had a magnetic resonance imaging test to determine exactly what was wrong with the knee. “I was all the time a little bit handicapped,” he said. Thiem was playing his 69th match of the year, the most on the ATP Tour, and he acknowledged he would adjust his schedule next season. Del Potro, 27, has his own history of injuries, having returned in February from a third operation on his right wrist, and he could not completely enjoy a short workday. “Of course it’s not good to win a match in this way,” del Potro said. “I’m very sad for him.” Del Potro also got a visit from the trainer in the first set, for a look at his right arm, but he said he was not worried about his wrist. He and Gaël Monfils are the only players in men’s singles who have not lost a set in the tournament. Del Potro, who has said he is tired from his run to the gold medal match at the Rio Olympics last month, may ultimately benefit from shorter matches. He will play third-seeded Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, with a potential meeting against Murray in the semifinals. Wawrinka has quietly moved through the draw, having not yet faced a seeded player nor beaten one ranked higher than 46th. His opponent Monday, 63rd-ranked Illya Marchenko, reached the fourth round, his first at a Grand Slam, by virtue of 14th-seeded Nick Kyrgios’s retirement because of an injury. Wawrinka cruised in the first two sets before dropping the third. He won by 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3. He said he did not mind being in the shadow of No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Murray and even No. 142 del Potro. “I’m doing my tournament, and we’ll see at the end,” Wawrinka said. Del Potro That was his first Grand Slam tournament since his latest wrist operation, before which he seriously considered retiring. He said he did not expect to be in the third round at the time. He acknowledged Monday that his quarterfinal appearance here was a surprise too. He continues to be the crowd favorite, with “Olé, olé, olé, olé!” soccer chants echoing around Ashe Stadium after the match and Argentina soccer jerseys on many spectators. After the match, del Potro sat in his chair and looked up at a large, loud group of fans in the upper deck who were chanting and waving a large Argentine flag. He seemed to acknowledge them with a wave of his racket. He hit a souvenir ball in their direction after his postmatch interview. “I know I am far away from home,” del Potro, the 2009 champion, said. “I feel at home here.” He said that he considered Wawrinka the favorite in their rematch, but that “anything can happen in this event for me.” “I got the power from the crowd in every match,” he said, “and that’s helped me a lot to fight and to play my best tennis.”