NEW YORK — Mardy Fish found himself dealing with all sorts of problems as he tried to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second time.
There was the brief flap with his opponent, 11th-seeded Jo-Wilfried 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.
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 semifinal.
“This might have been my best chance so far,” the 29-year-old Fish said.
“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.”
There could be a Grand Slam rematch in New York, because Tsonga next plays 16-time major champion Roger Federer, a 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 winner over Juan Monaco in a fourth-round match played late Monday.
Federer needed less than 90 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the 30th consecutive time.
Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, extended his 2011 record to 61-2 by beating No. 22 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, 7-6 (14), 6-4, 6-2. Their 16-14 tiebreaker in the first set lasted nearly a half-hour all on its own.
Serena Williams was the highlight performer for the women, handling former No. 1 and 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, 6-3, 6-4.
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki came back to beat 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1.
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