New York: Roger Federer was left waiting until almost midnight to start his US Open fourth-round match on Monday, but made up for the delay with a brutal 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 win over 36th-ranked Argentine Juan Monaco to reach the quarter-finals.
The start of their match was delayed because the preceding match in Arthur Ashe Stadium - No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki's 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova - lasted 3 hours, 2 minutes.
"You have to be ready," Federer said.
Thanks to his superb play, the match was over shortly before 1:15 AM on Tuesday.
Federer played brilliantly right from the start, taking the first five games - and 20 of the first 25 points - in only 12 minutes. The five-time champion took the first set in 18 minutes and barely slowed down after that.
He didn't miss a beat in the second set, hitting four aces in his opening service game and finishing with 14.
With a light mist threatening to halt play, Federer hurried through a third set in which he lost only 12 points, as the third-seeded Swiss eliminated his unseeded opponent in just 82 minutes under the Arthur Ashe Stadium court floodlights.
Federer compiled a 42-4 edge in winners against Monaco.
The lightning-quick win, which came as rain clouds gathered and mist filled the air at the National Tennis Center, marked the Swiss master's 30th successive trip to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event, dating back to the 2004 French Open.
Five of Federer's record 16 Major championships have come at Flushing Meadows.
The 30-year-old advanced to a mouth-watering clash against 11th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who rallied to overcome eight-seeded American Mardy Fish in five sets earlier in the day.
Mardy Fish found himself dealing with all sorts of problems as he tried to reach the US Open quarter-finals for the second time.
There was the brief flap with his opponent, Tsonga, and the chair umpire over some distracting cheering in the stands.
There were the aching right hip and hamstring that left Fish flat on his back, getting massaged by a trainer before the fifth set.
There was the pressure of knowing that he was, for the first time, the highest-ranked American at the country's Grand Slam tennis tournament.
There was the whipping wind that sent shots this way and that.
And then, of course, there was Tsonga, the big-hitting, athletic Frenchman, who feels more confident than ever - and it shows. The eighth-seeded Fish wasted a lead and lost the fourth-round match at Flushing Meadows 6-4, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Monday night, bringing what he saw as a premature end to what he hoped would be a run to a Major semi-final.
"This might have been my best chance so far," the 29-year-old Fish said, knowing that he played well all summer on the type of hard courts used at the US Open, including one title, two other appearances in finals and a victory over Rafael Nadal.
"For whatever reason - old age, I guess - my body didn't check up like I had hoped," said Fish, who limped out of his news conference. "Look, that's not why I lost. But it would have been nice to be able to run without pain."
Tsonga upset Federer in the Wimbledon quarter-finals two months ago, coming all the way back after dropping the first two sets.
"He's a tough player. I look forward to that match," Federer said. "If I play as good as I did today, sure I have a chance."
Tsonga has made it this far in New York for the first time.
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