Because of exhaustion Dinara Safina had almost given up her fourth-round match up with German qualifier Anna-Lena Groenefeld before it even started but her coach gave her much needed support and the Russian sixth seed advanced 7-5 6-0.

"I finished the warm-up and I just said, I cannot push myself anymore. I could not stop from crying," said world number seven Safina, who has reached six finals in her last seven tournaments.

"(My coach) said, 'We know that you're not a machine. Just go on the court and do whatever you can this day. If it's 20 percent left in your body, just give this 20 percent.

"'Don't use another percent just throwing the balls around and shouting. Whatever you have, just try to concentrate and put it into the game.' So that's what I did today."

World number 141 Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who had defeated both 11th seed Daniela Hantuchova and 17th seed Alize Cornet at the US Open, was a tough opponent in the first set, but collapsed in the second. (source: Reuters, photo: safina-dinara.com)

If you’re interested in how the US Open Media Center functions check out Paula Vergara’s behind-the-scenes experience at the tournament. She’s covering the US Open live and fans who are not able to experience these once-in-a-lifetime situations might find Paula’s story interesting. In an article at On the Baseline she gave us detailed description of how the media center looks and what it's like to be a part of it.

Swiss 15th seed Patty Schnyder and Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva joined Jelena Jankovic and Sybille Bammer in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Schnyder advanced with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 win over Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, while Olympic champion Dementieva defeated China’s Li Na 6-4 6-1.

In the beginning of the match Srebotnik displayed form which enabled her to upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round, but Schnyder was not lagging behind with her game – her groundstrokes were consistent and she seized her chances. As for Dementieva, who is wearing Yonex denim by the way, she showed off her improved serve which the 36th-ranked Li broke only once.

Schnyder and Dementieva will meet each other in the quarters. Dementive leads their head-to-head record 9-7, while she also won there last three meetings. (source: Reuters, photos: Getty Images)