Del Potro, however, said that his body was standing up surprisingly well to the rigours of best-of-five-set tennis.
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The victory by the hard-hitting Swiss set up a clash with big-serving del Potro, who won 6-3 3-2 when eighth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria retired with a knee injury.
Del Potro committed just eight unforced errors in the third set and made the most of his chances, converting on both of his break point chances to win the opener in 38 minutes.
“I’m not anxious about my wrist because I’m practising and playing matches every day”, he explained. “I wish all the best to Dominic”.
Del Potro will face Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka in the Quarterfinals.
“I’m getting older. Everything is like new for me”.
Del Potro is in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since Wimbledon three years ago.
“We have a good connection between the New York City people, between the Argentinean fans, between the American fans and me”, del Potro said.
“I’ve been playing well, especially today”, the Japanese said.
“I was really sad at home during the last two years when I got the injury to my wrist and I was watching this tournament on TV”.
Murray has lost three times in 10 meetings against Dimitrov, whose all-court game and smooth, one-handed backhand earned him the nickname “Baby Fed”, as in Roger Federer.
Thiem’s movement appeared extremely hampered and he opted to call it a day trailing 3-2 in the second set.
The unseeded del Potro, who was ahead by a score of 6-3, 3-2, received a wild card from the USTA into the main draw.
He was also playing in a season-leading 70th match of the season and 21st tournament, a gruelling schedule which finally caught up with him on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
“At the beginning of the match it was basically ok but.it got worse and worse”. By then, he’d won seven of the last eight games.
While most players are forced to deal with the daily pressures of the tour, Del Potro is as carefree as one can be while competing for the title in the second week of a slam. Seeing Thiem was out of sorts and physically compromised, he maintained the depth and allowed him to implode.
Thiem took a medical timeout to have trainers look at his right knee after the second set’s fifth game.
Thiem tried to continue, but pulled the plug in the next game. He hasn’t dropped a set.
The 23-year-old Austrian had needed five sets to beat Australia s John Millman in the first round and four to get past Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the last 32.
In the quarterfinals, del Potro will meet the victor of the match between third-seeded Stan Wawrinka and Ukraine’s Ilya Marchenko.
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Juan Martín del Potro, in his quiet and ambling fashion, has built up a steady body of work on his return to the tournament he won in 2009, and, with the crowd warming to every pistol crack of his huge forehand, he enters the quarter-finals on Wednesday as a risky contender.
