Photos from Flushing Meadows: Day 9

Each day during the U.S. Open, we'll publish a photo gallery of on-site images from Anita Aguilar. Steve Tignor will provide the captions, but he's also looking for your best work. Can you beat his caption of the above photo? Write yours in the comments below, or email Steve at stignor@tennismagazine.com, and he'll announce the winner in tomorrow's gallery.

NEW YORK—After the storm on Tuesday came the calm of Wednesday. There were only a few singles matches, and two of them were utter snores—between them, top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams won four straight love sets on Ashe Stadium. Fans in Armstrong got the better deal, as Mikhail Youzhny and Lleyton Hewitt staged a five-set classic.

Andy Murray has his arms synchronized for a forehand. He hit that shot well enough to beat Denis Istomin in four sets and advance to the quarterfinals.

Not that the evening...

...didn’t come with its frustrations...

...for the ever-expressive Scot.

Istomin can be a tricky opponent, as well as a distracting dresser. Here’s a rare moment when he had his glasses and headband mismatched.

Li Na didn’t want to reveal what she had for breakfast; whatever it is, it has her playing some fiery-eyed tennis. She’ll take on Serena Williams in the semis.

The athletic Li opens up and lifts off on this forehand.

Novak Djokovic has been his usual immaculate self through the early rounds. Yesterday he put a sleeper hold on Marcel Granollers, winning 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.

Nole thinking about his draw? It has opened up nicely. Next he’ll get Mikhail Youzhny. The question may be, can Djokovic raise his game on the weekend?

At times, the sunset was more intriguing than anything happening on Ashe.

Serena Williams steps up to serve; she obviously had no trouble hitting through the wind.

On the other side of the net, Carla Suarez Navarro had trouble with everything that came her way. The birthday girl went out 6-0, 6-0 in 52 minutes. She hardly seemed to try to make it last any longer.

Serena at full, determined stretch.

Ashe was quiet yesterday, but Armstrong was full of life. Tomas Berdych was upset by Stan Wawrinka in four power-packed sets.

Wawrinka did a lot of this yesterday.

Berdych was left to give his racquet an ironic kiss, as another Grand Slam chance came and went.

Youzhny, another of tennis’s eternally young 30-something warriors, came from behind in each of the last two sets to beat Lleyton Hewitt.

Youzhny, perhaps playing a game of "Where's Mikhail?" with a baby in the audience?

Lleyton Hewitt will forever be known as the Little Aussie Battler, but yesterday he showed that, no matter how confident he makes himself look, he can collapse, too.

Hewitt and Youzhny ran each all over the court; rallies routinely went 20, 30, 40 shots.

Youzhny just after completing his traditional soldier’s salute to the Armstrong crowd. It was invented on the same court seven years ago, after he upset Rafael Nadal.

Well-played, mates.

Caption Contest:

From Joey Hanf of the Tennis Nerds, Tim Smyczek’s Grandstand cheering section (pictured above):

“Looking back on it all, it was the greatest sporting experience of my life. Tim Smyczek is exactly the kind of player you want to root for. He plays the game the right way, has a funny personality, and is pure class.”