Murray was more motivated than ever coming into the US Open; he had lost just one match since reuniting with Ivan Lendl on the eve of Queen’s; he had reached the finals of his last seven tournaments; he had won a third major title at Wimbledon, and a second straight Olympic gold medal in Rio.
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Wawrinka, who had to save a match point in his third round clash with Dan Evans, will be playing in a third US Open semi-final in four years.
Tomorrow’s other semi-final will see defending champion Novak Djokovic take on 10th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils.
The last game of two-time major title victor Wawrinka’s victory was delayed while the crowd saluted the popular del Potro, who missed the U.S. Open the past two years because of three operations on his left wrist. It moved del Potro to tears on the court. We played many times against each other. “(If) that’s the case, why it didn’t happen today I don’t know. “That was the difference”.
Umpire Marija Cicak ordered the point to be replayed much to the irritation of the Briton who lost his composure and the next five games as an acrobatic Nishikori levelled the tie.
“Exactly the same thing”, Murray exclaimed. “You can’t win every match”.
Murray’s dominance of the opening set faded in the second and, although he made the first break, Nishikori immediately pegged him back in a pattern that would later become a recurring theme. He would lose 7-5 in the fifth and deciding set. But he wouldn’t take another game.
But Nishikori wasn’t to be denied this time as Murray dumped a routine backhand in to the net and sparked Japanese celebrations. “I mean, obviously a lot of top, top players left”, Murray said.
A double fault from Murray handed Nishikori a break point that was duly converted to the fury of the Wimbledon champion, and the 26-year-old held serve to wrap up a memorable win. However, he lost his serve again at 5-5 when Nishikori came up with a superb volley at full stretch.
“It was so exciting on the court but I tried to stay calm”. However, after forcing an early break point opportunity at the start of the fourth, the match began to slip away. In the women’s competition, world No.1 Serena Williams fended off a spirited Simona Halep, downing the fifth-seeded Romanian 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semifinals.
A year ago in the semifinals, Williams’ attempt to finish off a calendar-year Grand Slam ended with a stunning loss to unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy.
After surviving a match point en route to a fourth-round victory over Williams’ sister Venus, Pliskova beat 18-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-2.
Kristina Mladenovic, of France, right, hugs doubles partner Caroline Garcia, of France, after winning their semifinal match against Martina Hingis, of Switzerland, and Coco Vandeweghe, of the United States, at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in NY. Then it started to rain, forcing a suspension of play as the roof was closed over Arthur Ashe Stadium. I think it’s gonna help for sure my experience. “I don’t think that had an impact on the match today”.
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Murray’s five-set defeat to Nishikori was particularly galling. Del Potro broke Wawrinka’s serve in the seventh game of the third set to lead 4-3 and eventually took the set 6-4. Murray, with his focus suddenly rebooted, broke back for 2-2 against the man he had defeated in the Olympic semi-finals.
