Fans relish prospect of first-time US final between legends
IT’S been 15 years in the making but Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are hurtling towards a box-office first-time showdown at the US Open.
A night after titleholder and world No.1 Novak Djokovic quit with a shoulder injury, Nadal joined Federer in the last eight with a 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-2 fourth-round victory over former champion Marin Cilic.
A finalist in three of the four grand slams and triumphant at Flushing Meadows in 2014, Cilic threatened to crash the party after taking the second set against Nadal.
But the relentless Spaniard rallied to chisel out victory after two hours and 48 minutes to reach his 40th grand slam quarter-final – and ninth in America.
Nadal and Federer are now within a pair of wins each of finally clashing on the sport’s biggest stage at Arthur Ashe Stadium, in what would complete the set of grand slam finals between the sport’s most enduring rivals.
The two tennis titans have duelled on 40 occasions since first squaring off in Miami in 2004, including 12 times at grand slams, most recently in this year’s French Open semis.
But now only four men – including one fellow grand slam champion – stand in the way of the blockbuster final.
Second-seed Nadal will carry a seven-from-seven record against Diego Schwartzman into their quarter-final.
The Spaniard also boasts a dominant 14-2 winning record over Gael Monfils and has never played his other prospective semi-final opponent, first-time grand slam quarterfinalist Matteo Berrettini.
Federer, the third seed, is 7-0 against his quarter-final rival Grigor Dimitrov, whom he meets this morning, and would be favourite to win a semi-final against three-times major champion Stan Wawrinka or Daniil Medvedev.
The 20-times grand slam champion’s only three losses in 26 meetings with Wawrinka have come on clay, while Federer has beaten Medvedev all three times they have played. Schwartzman’s date with destiny with Nadal came after an extraordinary 17 double-faults from sixth seed Alexander Zverev gift-wrapped the South American a 3-6 6-2 6-4 6-3 victory.
Berrettini, the 24th seed, roared through to the last eight of a slam for the first time with a 6-1 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win over Nick Kyrgios’s third-round slayer Andrey Rublev.
Next up for Berrettini is 13th seed Monfils, who crushed Pablo Andujar 6-1 6-2 6-2.