Defending champion Andy Murray was ousted from the US Open on Thursday, falling to Swiss ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in a quarterfinal shocker at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Wawrinka reached his first Grand Slam semifinal by stunning the reigning Olympic and Wimbledon champion, booking a Saturday last-four date against either world number one Novak Djokovic or Russian 21st seed Mikhail Youzhny.
Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal and French eighth seed Richard Gasquet will meet in Saturday’s other semifinal. ‘It feels amazing for sure, especially after that match against the defending champion,’ Wawrinka said. ‘It was a crazy match for me to beat him in three sets.’ Relentless pressure from Wawrinka, who is deeper than 17-time Grand Slam champion compatriot Roger Federer in a Slam for the first time in his career, led to a Murray meltdown that doomed his repeat dreams.
‘He played great. That was the hardest part about the match,’ Murray said. ‘He just hit the ball extremely well. I didn’t create a break point chance. He served well. He hit a lot of lines, was going for big shots, and he played too well.’ Top seed Novak Djokovic rode a third set blip to breeze past Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-0 and reach the semi-finals of the U.S. Open on Thursday.
The Serb polished off his Russian opponent in two hours and 34 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium to set up a last four meeting with Stanislas Wawrinka, who earlier stunned defending champion Andy Murray.
‘I’ve been always trying to play my best tennis in the grand slams,’ said Djokovic, who has now reached the semi-finals at 14 successive majors. ‘I had a tough hard court season coming into the U.S. Open but I’m really working on my game. I’m going to try to play my best in every match.’
At two sets up, Djokovic looked to be forging an even quicker path to the last four but Youzhny burst into life to become the first player to take a set off the world number one at Flushing Meadows this year. The New York crowd swung behind the underdog but Djokovic recovered momentum by breaking the Russian’s opening service game of the fourth set. With entrepreneur Richard Branson cheering him on from his supporters’ box, Djokovic broke again in the fourth and sixth games to put the issue beyond doubt.
‘After I lost the third set I definitely tried to regroup and focus on every point individually,’ said the 26-year-old, who hit 32 winners and an unusually high 45 unforced errors. ‘It suddenly changed. For some reason I allowed him to come back into the match, started to push the ball, being more passive and allowing him to step into the court.’ Novak Djokovic can meet Rafael Nadal in the final, if both win.