Rafael Nadal edged closer to a place in his first US Open final after thrashing fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday with another devastating serving performance.
The world number one will complete the collection of grand slam titles with a victory at Flushing Meadows. Nadal has yet to lose a game on his service in the entire championship and against Lopez, the 23rd seed, he won a staggering 90 per cent of first serve points.
Nadal’s opponent in Thursday’s quarter-final is another Davis Cup team mate, Fernando Verdasco, who advanced the hard way by wearing down David Ferrer 5-7 6-7 6-3 6-3 7-6 after almost four and a half hours on court.
Clijsters through to semis, to face venus
Defending champion Kim Clijsters barely got past French Open runner-up Sam Stosur of Australia 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.
Clijsters, who now has 19 consecutive victories at the US Open, will be a semifinal against another woman who has won two championships at the US Open, Venus Williams.
They have played 12 times previously, each winning six, but Clijsters has taken the last four in a row, including in the fourth round last year in New York.
The Belgian won the US Open the last two times she entered, in 2005 and in 2009. Now she is trying to become the first woman since Williams in 2000-01 to win the tournament two years in a row. Clijsters has won 25 of her last 26 matches in the tournament.
{{/usCountry}}The Belgian won the US Open the last two times she entered, in 2005 and in 2009. Now she is trying to become the first woman since Williams in 2000-01 to win the tournament two years in a row. Clijsters has won 25 of her last 26 matches in the tournament.
{{/usCountry}}Nadal downs Lopez, to meet Verdasco
Rafael Nadal edged closer to a place in his first US Open final after thrashing fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday with another devastating serving performance.
The world number one, who would complete the collection of grand slam titles with a victory at Flushing Meadows, wrap ped up his fourth straight sets win of this year’s championship.
“I think I am playing well, but I am not playing yet at my highest level,” Nadal said.
Nadal’s opponent in Thursday’s quarter-final is another Davis Cup team mate, Fernando Verdasco, who advanced the hard way by wearing down David Ferrer 5-7 6-7 6-3 6-3 7-6 after almost four and a half hours on court. His match against Verdasco will be the first all-Spanish quarterfinal in U.S. Open history.
Williams now sole US singles player
Venus Williams arrived at this US Open with a bum knee. She hadn’t played a match in more than two months. And now she is two victories away from her first US Open title since 2001. Williams is the only American singles player left in the 2010 edition as the last of the country’s 15 men in the field, 20th-seeded Sam Querrey, lost 7-6 (9), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka. It’s the second consecutive year that no US men reached the US Open quarterfinals.