Nadal shoots down young challenger to reach quarters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal, in his first grand slam as the number one target, took his turn at shooting down one of the big-hitting young guns at the U.S. Open on Monday to ride into the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.

The Spaniard, the top-seeded world number one for the first time at a major, had to dodge a bevy of bullets from 20-year-old American Sam Querrey, before blazing to a 6-2 5-7 7-6 6-3 win.

Querrey blasted in 20 aces and 52 winners before succumbing to Nadal after three hours, 13 minutes of crunching hits.

When the dust cleared on a windy day at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Nadal had matched his best Open showing by reaching the last eight against unseeded American Mardy Fish, who beat 32nd seed Gael Monfils of France 7-5 6-2 6-2.

Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, seeded seven, held up her end of an expected quarter-final rendezvous with sister Serena by beating ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1 6-3.

The fourth-seeded Serena looks to set up a last-eight rematch of their sisterly Wimbledon final when she faces 121st-ranked Frech wildcard Severine Bremond in the night program.

Another women's quarter-final was set with sixth seed Dinara Safina of Russia earning a date with Flavia Pennetta of Italy.

Safina, who complained of exhaustion, had enough energy to beat Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5 6-0. Pennetta, the 16th seed, routed former world number one Amelie Mauresmo 6-3 6-0.

CORNERED QUERREY

After young lion Marin Cilic of Croatia gave third seed Novak Djokovic a scare, and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia pressed former champion Andy Roddick earlier in the tournament, Nadal faced his centre court challenge from a new wave player.

Nadal cornered Querrey at last in the seventh game of the fourth set, when he turned away seven break points that would have put the set back on serve, finally holding on the 16th point of the game for 5-2.

An overhand smash was the final shot two games later and Nadal celebrated by firing a ball into the stands, and throwing another to the crowd along with his wrist band before punching the air with his fist.

"Very tough," Nadal said at courtside. "Sam is a big player, a big server. He has a great future."

The future is now for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who has won 42 of his last 43 matches, to extend a big event streak that has brought him French, Wimbledon and Olympic titles. He is aiming for his first grand slam triumph on hard court.

His run has also pushed him past Roger Federer to the pinnacle of the men's game.

Querrey took solace for now in making a good fight of it.

"He had to earn it. I didn't just give it to him," 55th-ranked Querrey said. "It's nice to know he actually had to go out there and fight for it rather than me kind of handing it to him. Not the worst thing in the world going out to the number one guy."

Nadal, winner of eight titles this year including two on hard court, said conditions contributed to his struggle.

"The wind was heavy today," said Nadal, who swung the match in his favor by taking the third-set tiebreaker 7-2. "I served very bad in the third, but the important thing was I played my best tennis in the tiebreak."

Safina, who has reached six finals in her last seven events, needed a pep talk from coach Zeljko Krajan to get on court and continue her pursuit of a maiden grand slam title.

"I finished the warm-up and I just said, I cannot push myself anymore. I could not stop from crying," said Safina, runner-up in the Olympics to compatriot Elena Dementieva.

"(My coach) said, 'We know that you're not a machine. Just go on the court and do whatever you can this day. If it's 20 percent left in your body, just give this 20 percent."

The Russian heeded his advice and remains one of four players who could topple Ana Ivanovic, who lost in the second round, from the top spot next week.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)