Juan to watch for US crown
JUAN Martin del Potro sensationally gatecrashed the US Open yesterday, stunning fivetime champion Roger Federer and shattering hopes of a first New York showdown between the Swiss legend and Rafael Nadal.
The Argentine giant, who won his only Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 2009 by beating Federer in the final after seeing off Nadal in the semis, triumphed 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in front of a spellbound Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
The 28-year-old will once again face world No.1 Nadal in the semi-finals tomorrow, a stunning achievement for a man who had saved two match points to beat sixth seed Dominic Thiem in the last 16.
Nadal, who will keep his world No.1 status following third seed Federer’s exit, had earlier defeated Russian teenager Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in just 97 minutes.
It will be a sixth US Open semi-final for Nadal and 26th at the majors while Del Potro, the 24th seed, will be playing in just his fourth last-four match at the Slams.
For 36-year-old Federer, it was a first Slam loss of 2017 after he won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles to take his career tally to 19.
“I served really good. I hit my forehand as hard as I could and I played a great match. I deserved to win,” said Del Potro, who will be in his first Slam semi-final since Wimbledon in 2013.
Federer, who had a 16-5 winning record over Del Potro, levelled the tie after breaking for a 3-1 lead in the second.
However, the match turned in the third-set tiebreak when Del Potro saved four set points before a weary and error-riddled Federer dropped serve again to trail 3-2 in the fourth.
“It’s hard to explain, I didn’t play that badly,” Federer said.
“I just ran into a guy who was better on the bigger points. I don’t deserve to still be in the tournament.”
Nadal will take an 8-5 record over Del Potro into the semi-final where the winner will face either Kevin Anderson or Pablo Carreno Busta for the title.
“Juan Martin is a top player. When he’s playing well, it’s difficult to stop him. Probably the forehand is maybe the fastest on the tour,” said Nadal, who is chasing his second major of the year to add to his French Open title.
The women’s semi-finals will be an all-American affair after CoCo Vandeweghe and Madison Keys set up a lastfour duel. Today’s other tie will see seven-time major champion Venus Williams face Sloane Stephens.
Vandeweghe claimed a 7-6, 6-3 win over the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova, whose eight-week stay as world No.1 ended, with Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza taking over. Vandeweghe’s victory means that the US Open will have an all-American semifinal line-up for the first time since 1981.