Twenty-somethings

No. 24 Schalken, No. 28 Gonzalez to meet in quarters

Fernando Gonzalez had 15 aces against Arnaud Clement; his fastest serve was 132 mph. AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fernando Gonzalez of Chile reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open on Tuesday, knocking out unseeded Arnaud Clement of France 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth round.

Gonzalez, the world No. 28, upset seventh-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the third round.

Clement, ranked 43rd in the world, upset 10th-seeded countryman Sebastian Grosjean in the second round and topped Guillermo Coria of Argentina in the third round.

The 28th-seeded Gonzalez will meet Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. Schalken, seeded 24th, topped former world No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) earlier Tuesday.

Kuerten, a three-time French Open champion, was unseeded because of poor results relating to his injury and subsequent surgery.

The Brazilian, who has reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open twice before, upset second-seeded Marat Safin of Russia -- the winner here two years ago -- in the second round.

Kuerten wasn't expected to even make it this far in the year's final major tournament, having been the first man in 31 years to go from being seeded No. 1 at the U.S. Open one year to being unseeded the next. He entered the Open with a 12-10 match record in 2002, a season interrupted in February by right hip surgery that kept him off the tour for two months and led to a drop to 46th in the rankings.

Schalken, meanwhile, reached the quarterfinals at a second straight Grand Slam event after never having been that far in the first 28 majors of his career. He lost to Lleyton Hewitt of Australia at that stage at Wimbledon, but was the only player to take a set from the eventual champion at the All England Club.

 

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