US Open sidelines on the fifth day

US Open sidelines on the fifth day of the 2015 tournament at Flushing Meadows:

Who's saying what

"I really liked accounting."

- Venus Williams, on completing a business degree.

"Venus, can I have your towel?"

- Fan shouts out to Venus Williams just moments after the American had hit a winning ace to beat Belinda Bencic.

"He's getting into the kitchen of these guys."

- ESPN pundit Patrick McEnroe on Roger Federer's hold over opponents. For 'getting into the kitchen' read 'getting into the head.'

"If it's convenient, yeah. I'm not going to put in my calendar that I have to watch between 11:00 and 11:00 at night."

- Defeated Milos Raonic, not planning to see a great deal of the rest of the tournament.

Bounce, bounce, bounce

- Novak Djokovic believes his habit of bouncing the ball over and over again before serving used to earn him time violations and annoy opponents. Now, he insists it's a thing of the past.

"I wasn't doing it on purpose obviously. As the situation is more important in a match and you're facing break points, I guess the more bounces I would get. It was a habit that I didn't want to keep, so I had to work on it. I'm healthy now."

Age concern

- When Venus Williams reached her first US Open final in 1997, Belinda Bencic was just six months old. But experience counted on Friday when the 35-year-old American swept to a straight-sets win in their third-round clash.

Murray hails Petra

- Petra Cetkovska's stunning win over two-time runner-up Caroline Wozniacki had Andy Murray purring.

#feel #power #talent "Loving Petra Cetkovska game! #feel #power #talent," tweeted the British number three.

Numbers up

16 - the number of straight sets that defending champion Marin Cilic had won at the US Open until the run was snapped by Mikhail Kukushkin on Friday.

31 - the number of consecutive matches Djokovic has won against Italian opponents after his third-round victory over Andreas Seppi.

203 - the number of Djokovic's Grand Slam match wins after beating Andreas Seppi, which took him level with Pete Sampras. Roger Federer leads the way with 293.
Source: AFP