Nadal cruises past teen to edge closer to Federer clash

Rafael Nadal completed his end of the bargain and must now wait to see whether Roger Federer can join him in the semi-finals of the US Open.

The pair have famously never met in New York but, after Nadal’s 6-1 6-2 6-2 demolition of teenager Andrey Rublev, the only man standing in the way is Juan Martin del Potro, who was due to play Federer at 1.15am today (GMT).

Five times they have come within a single match only for one to lose but, with Del Potro struggling with illness and having needed an epic comeback to beat Dominic Thiem on Monday, surely this is the year.

Asked whether he will be watching, Nadal said: “I’m going to have dinner. In Spain we have later dinner. But of course it’s a match I want to see. Two great players and I will be waiting for that semi-finals match.

“It’s something a little bit strange that we never played here because we played a lot of times in all the important events around the world.

“I think it will be much more special if that can happen in a final but that’s not possible this year so we’re going to come back and try to make that happen.”

Nadal was Rublev’s childhood idol but the 19-year-old may be slightly less fond of the Spaniard after this baptism of fire on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“It was a good match,” said the world No 1.

“For Andrey it was his first quarter-final and probably he played with more mistakes than usual. For me it’s an important victory, last two matches winning in straight sets is very good news for me. To be once again in the semi-finals in New York means a lot to me.”

Meanwhile Kevin Anderson defeated Sam Querrey to become the first South African to reach the semi-finals of a grand slam for 14 years.

The 31-year-old came out on top just before 2am yesterday at Flushing Meadows, Anderson winning 7-6 (7/5) 6-7 (9/11) 6-3 7-6 (9/7).

Not since Wayne Ferreira at the 2003 Australian Open has a South African made the last four at a slam, while Cliff Drysdale in 1965 was the last man to do so in New York, when the tournament was still amateur.

Earlier, Carreno Busta defeated Diego Schwartzman to reach his first grand slam singles semi-final. The 12thseeded Spaniard proved too solid for his opponent, winning 6-4 6-4 6-2.