RAFAEL Nadal turned dream-wrecker at Flushing Meadows when he downed American favourite Mardy Fish 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a rowdy late, 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 yesterday, world No1 Nadal drowned out the deafening roars in Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the last four at the grand slam event for the first time.
"The night a
tmosphere is always amazing here but I prefer to finish a little earlier," a beaming Nadal said after securing a last-four showdown with Scot Andy Murray.
"Thanks everyone for being here until 2am."
He later added: "For sure it was not the best conditions to play a tennis match. But sometimes the schedules are tough, like here, and Australia, too. So sometimes it's difficult. But ... you just accept and go on court and try your best."
After overcoming a first-set hiccup, a merciless Nadal was steaming towards victory when he was suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Leading 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 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 the ball long. At 2.10am, the finish was just 16 minutes short of the US Open record for the latest finish in New York.
Perhaps distracted by the buzz around the court after the superb battle between the Williams sisters which had served as the warm-up act for his match, Nadal produced a string of erratic shots to go 3-0 down in the first set.
It took Nadal 18 minutes to register his first game on the board but from then on he slowly reeled in Fish, and backing up his thunderbolt serves with ferocious groundstrokes, the Spaniard romped through the second and third sets.
Fish finally bowed out after two hours and 40 minutes, allowing Nadal to get within touching distance of adding the US Open title to his French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic triumphs.
The full article contains 415 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
