NEW YORK – “We just want to play,” said Andy Roddick.
And play they did on Thursday at the US Open.
It was where they played that was the biggest surprise as the rain that washed out play for two days finally subsided.
Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion who hadn’t played outside of Arthur Ashe Stadium since 2002, ended up on Court 13 at the outer edges of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. His fourth-round match against fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain was to be played on Louis Armstrong Stadium, but was switched when water bubbled to the surface right behind the baseline.
“I played there in 1999. I lost to Scott Lipski in juniors first round,” Roddick said of playing on Court 13. “Year before that, I lost to Fernando González out there first round in juniors.”
He didn’t lose Thursday, pounding his way into the quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-3 win over Ferrer.
Another American, 28th-seeded John Isner, grabbed a quarterfinal berth by ousting No. 12 Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (2) 3-6 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4).
There were surprises in the other two fourth-round matches as defending champion Rafael Nadal stopped Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 7-6 (1) 6-1 6-2 and fourth-seeded Andy Murray eliminated unseeded American Donald Young 6-2 6-3 6-3.
Because of the rain, the four early winners will have to play four consecutive days if the year’s final Grand Slam tournament is to end on Sunday. In the bottom half of the draw, Friday’s quarterfinals will pit Nadal against Roddick and Murray against Isner.
There were two upsets in the women’s quarterfinals, but not in the upper half of the draw where top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and heavy favorite Serena Williams posted straight-set victories. But ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia and surprising Angelique Kerber of Germany will face off for the other spot in the final.
Wozniacki bested Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-1 7-6 (5); Williams downed Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-1; Stosur knocked off second-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-3, and Kerber ended the run of Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-4 4-6 6-3.
Like Roddick, Wozniacki also was relegated to Court 13, which usually during the second week of the Open is where the juniors play.
“The whole match was tough,” Wozniacki said. “There are different conditions out there, the court is faster. But I won. That’s the most important thing.”
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic was the first man to reach the semifinals, outlasting his Serbian Davis Cup teammate Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (2) 6-7 (3) 6-0 3-0 retired. In Thursday’s night match, third-seeded Roger Federer took on No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to see who would face Djokovic on Saturday. That match was suspended in the opening set by rain.
The forecast for Thursday was for a four-hour window of good weather before the rain returned later in the day. To catch up, tournament officials began all four fourth-round matches on four different courts.
Then came the problem on Armstrong and the switch to Court 13.
Because of the weather and a backup of matches, officials switched the men’s final to Monday and the women’s final to Sunday.
In other schedule changes, the quarterfinals between Isner-Murray and Roddick-Nadal will be played Friday, with the men’s semifinals set for Saturday day. The women’s semifinals will be played Saturday evening.
The women’s favorite, Serena Williams, is seeded only 28th after being out of tennis for 11 months because of injuries and illness. She has dominated lately, winning the title at both Stanford and Toronto, and could collect a $1 million bonus
Against the 20-year-old Pavlyuchenkova, Williams started slowly, the two trading service breaks for the first six games. By the time she wrapped up the opening set she was beginning to look her usual overpowering self.
“It was a slow start, sand once I lost serve I was determined to break serve so I wouldn’t be down a break,” Williams said. “Then I just kept losing serve in the beginning. Very weird.”
Williams and Pavlyuchenkova briefly took to the court on Wednesday night, but never got beyond their warm-up before rain prompted officials to cancel all play.
Although Stosur is the higher ranked of the two players, she beat Zvonareva for their eight consecutive time in their 10 career meetings. While the Australian was stretched to three close sets in her last two matches, she was dominant against her Russian opponent, needing just 67 minutes to advance to the semifinals, her best showing ever at America’s premier tennis event.
Stosur never faced a break point as he hit 25 winners.
“She was able to hold her serve pretty easy, that’s why she could take a lot of risks on mine,” said Zvonareva, who had runner-up finishes at Wimbledon and the US Open last year. “She was over-playing me a little in every game.”
Kerber had never been past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament before now. Ranked 92nd in the world, she had lost in the first round of her last four major tournaments. Pennetta has never been past the quarterfinals at a major, who has reached this stage three times.