U.S. Open: Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal finally into quarterfinals

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First Andy Murray and then Rafael Nadal made good use of unexpected good weather Thursday by finishing off their fourth-round U.S. Open matches.

Murray, seeded fourth, needed 1 hour, 58 minutes of match time to end the run of wild-card entrant Donald Young with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 win. Young committed 53 unforced errors and so never threatened to make Murray nervous.

Nadal, who fell behind, 0-3, to unseeded Gilles Muller in the 16 minutes of tennis that was played Wednesday, won their match in straight sets, 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-2 in 2 hours, 8 minutes.

The second-seeded Spaniard, who is the defending champion, was one of the most vocal players Wednesday in criticizing the United States Tennis Assn. for putting the players on court while it was misting and the courts were slippery.

‘Yesteray was a tough a day for everybody, for the players, for the fans too, who waited here a lot of hours,’ Nadal said. ‘I am very happy now. I had a tough yesterday but today I think I played well. He played very aggressive all the time.

‘The situation yesterday was not easy for nobody, even the organization. They were wrong yesterday but everybody have mistakes. Now, I think I’m playing my best tennis since Wimbledon here.’

Next for Nadal will be the winner of the fourth-round match between fifth-seeded David Ferrer and 21st-seeded Andy Roddick. Roddick led, 6-3, 3-1, in that match.

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-- Diane Pucin in New York