Sixth seed Andy Murray roared into his first Grand Slam semifinal on Wednesday when he won a grudge match against Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-5 at the US Open, while Rafael Nadal downed American favourite Mardy Fish 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-2.
In their only previous meeting in May at the Rome Masters, Murray and Del Potro traded insults on court, but at Flushing Meadows they let their rackets do the talking in a nerve-racking slugfest at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
By the end of the four-hour battle, the players could barely be separated as Murray had won just five points more than his vanquished opponent. While Murray’s numbers stacked up to 43 clean winners and 154 points won, Del Potro also conjured 43 winners but fell short on points won with 149.
”Overall I’m very relieved,” Murray, who will next face Nadal, said in a courtside interview. ”I had my chances in the third set and let it slip.
”But Juan has been on a great run so he had some confidence and fought hard. It was a great atmosphere at the end.”
Del Potro, at 19 the youngest man to reach the quarterfinals since 2001, had been expected to provide Murray with a stiff challenge after entering the contest on a 23-match winning streak.
But Murray was quick off the blocks, racing to a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Del Potro fought back to level at 5-5 before the exertions of the past two months, during which time he won four titles, caught up with him in the tiebreak and he surrendered it 7-2.
The 17th-seeded Argentine, who took a medical time out to get bandaged above and below his left knee, faded in the second set tiebreak, losing it 7-1.
Almighty roar
After venting his frustrations by repeatedly slamming his racket to the ground, Del Potro came alive when the Briton came within two games of victory. Ripping a series of stinging passing shots, he broke Murray for 5-4 and wrapped up the third set with a crisp forehand winner.
Both appeared reluctant to snatch control of the match in the fourth until Murray pounced on a forehand error by Del Potro to earn two match points.
The first went begging but the Scot let out an almighty roar when Del Potro’s backhand floated wide on the second just two minutes short of the four-hour mark.
Before the match, Murray had said: ”I’ve known him since we were really young. I wasn’t great friends with him before. I don’t need to be friends with him now.”
But after sharing a compelling adventure on court that thrilled the 23 000 fans packed into the arena, the duo opted to bury their bitter memories. They patted each other on the back and had a warm exchange at the net.
”All I said was congratulations and good luck for the next match,” said an emotional Del Potro, who broke down in tears during a news conference.
”He played an unbelievable match and he’s a great player. He’s a great player and that’s it.”
Murray added: ”A lot was sort of made of what happened the last time I played against him. At the end of the match he said: ‘I’m sorry for what happened before’.
”I told him it was a great run he had been on. I’m sure we’ll have some great matches in the future. That was it.”
The win ensured Murray would rise to a career-high fourth in the world rankings when the new list is issued on Monday.
Meanwhile, Nadal turned dream-wrecker when he downed Fish 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-2 in a rowdy late show that closed Wednesday’s programme at the US Open.
In a match that started on Wednesday and did not finish until 2.10 am local time on Thursday, world number one Nadal drowned out the deafening roars on Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
”The night atmosphere here is always amazing here but I prefer to finish a little earlier,” a beaming Nadal said court-side.
”Thanks everyone for being here until two o’clock.”
After overcoming a first-set hiccup, a merciless Nadal was steaming towards victory but was suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Serving at 3-2 in the fourth set, Nadal was distracted by a male fan who shouted out from the stands while the Spaniard was in full flight of his service motion.
Sportingly, Fish immediately stopped the point and then play was held up for several minutes as a security official went to deal with the offending fan.
Once the umpire had reminded the crowd of the etiquette of staying quiet during points, normal service resumed and a rampaging Nadal won the next three games, sealing victory when Fish sailed a the ball long. — Reuters