“I think I was behaving like a really spoilt girl today,” Safina told reporters.

After the match in an on-court interview, Djokovic lambasted Roddick for joking that the Serb was suffering from 16 injuries, drawing boos from the US Open crowd.

Dinara Safina, the No. 7-ranked player in the world who can leap all the way to No. 1 with a US Open win, was the other quarterfinal winner Wednesday, topping Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-3. The 22-year-old Russian, who earlier in the week was literally crying to her coach on a practice court regarding her exhaustion following a long summer and the Beijing Olympics, has gathered herself in time for the semifinal and a date with Serena Williams.

Andy Roddick is suddenly looking all the wiser with the combination of skipping the Beijing Olympics and bring Patrick McEnroe on as a temporary coach. Gonzalez looked like he had the Beijing flu on Tuesday night, with barely enough energy to put up a fight.

“After the warm-up I just started to cry,” Safina said. “I said, ‘I cannot push anymore myself.’ He said, ‘We know that you’re not a machine. Just go out there and don’t thinking.’ He told me again, ‘Just please don’t show me any emotions, like these negative emotions. If you want, don’t show even positive. Just go on the court and do whatever you can this day.’…I could not stop from crying, yeah. So I guess he knows how to handle my emotions.”

US Open 2008
Third Round
(2) Roger Federer d. (28) Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
(3) Novak Djokovic d. (30) Marin Cilic 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(0)
(5) Nikolay Davydenko d. (26) Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-3
(8) Andy Roddick d. (31) Andreas Seppi 6-2, 7-5, 7-6(4)
(11) Fernando Gonzalez d. Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-1
(23) Igor Andreev d. (13) […]

Third-round Play
(1) Rafael Nadal d. Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3, 6-0
Kei Nishikori d. (4) David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5
(6) Andy Murray d. Jurgen Melzer 6-7(5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, 6-3
(32) Gael Monfils d. (7) David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Mardy Fish d. (9) James Blake 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4)
(10) Stanislas Wawrinka d. Flavio Cipolla 5-7, 6-7(4), […]

“No, I was so pissed off that I didn’t think about anything,” Davenport said.

“It was a tough match,” Murray said. “[Llodra] moves really good up at the net, doesn’t give you a lot of rhythm. There’s very few guys that play that well up at the net.”

“I felt good, that’s the best I’ve played in four or five months,” Roddick said. “Something about this place always gets me energized and the fans are great and I’m just happy to be healthy.”