11th time "lucky" for Robredo

"I beat the greatest player of all time... and in the place where he loves to play. This is like a dream, I'm very happy." Tommy Robredo, the 19th seed, was all smiles on Monday night after he dispatched five-times champion Roger Federer in the fourth round of the US Open; and in straight sets at that.

"I've been lucky, I was fortunate to be able to beat Roger once and at a Grand Slam. Now we'll have to see what happens next."

In sport they say you make your own luck and Robredo, who held a 0-10 record against the Swiss until Sunday, certainly did that: 70-percent accuracy on his first serve, four of seven break point opportunities converted and just 26 unforced errors. Federer, it might be safely said, did not have his finest day at the office, converting two of 16 break opportunities and hitting 45 unforced errors. "I kind of feel like I beat myself, you know, without taking any credit away from Tommy," said the Swiss.

"Clearly he was making sure he made many balls. It was up to me to make the difference and I couldn't. I kind of self-destructed, which is disappointing, especially on a faster court," he added in response to the unexpected change of arena from Arthur Ashe to Louis Armstrong. "There's no excuse there, I was prepared for it. I was even happy about it."

Robredo's gain will be viewed as the tournament's loss; Federer was projected to meet Rafa Nadal in the quarterfinals to renew one of the greatest sporting rivalries of this generation. But Federer, who scoffed at the notion of retirement after his early exit for Wimbledon, was brutally honest about the postponed date: "It's not that much of a disappointment at the end of the day. If I'm playing like this I'm not going to beat Rafa, or \[Nadal's fourth-round opponent Philipp\] Kohlschreiber for that matter."

The German 22nd seed had Arthur Ashe wondering if another upset was on the cards when he took the first set off Nadal in a tie-break, but the world number two gradually imposed his authority on the match and crushed Kohlschreiber's challenge for the loss of eight games over the ensuing three sets.

Key to Nadal's progress at Flushing Meadows has been his serve, which he described after Monday night's match as working "wonderfully." The Spanish number one has yet to drop serve in the tournament, although Kohlschreiber almost picked the lock.

"I didn't lose my serve today because Philipp made a big error in the first game of the fourth set, that's why I haven't been broken yet. But in any case, four matches without losing serve is good news, I won't deny it." Robredo and Nadal face each other in the last eight.

David Ferrer ensured a red-and-yellow hue to the bottom half of the draw by joining his compatriots in the quarterfinals. Again, the seeding hierarchy was challenged by Janko Tipsarevic, who has struggled with injury this season and dropped out of the top 10 to 21.

Ferrer edged a tight first set but the Serbian number two broke the Spaniard twice to take the second. Ferrer then dug deep to repel Tipsarevic's assault, profiting from forays to the net (79 percent of points won) and ramping up his serve with seven aces and 15 winners in the final two sets, wrapping up a 7-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 victory in just under four hours to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Richard Gasquet, who came through an epic five-set marathon at the expense of Milos Raonic.