10 September,2009 08:22 AM IST | | AFP
Fourth seed Novak Djokovic reached the US Open semi-finals yesterday by outlasting Spain's Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7/2), 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a dour, stamina-sapping encounter.
The Serb will play either top seed and defending champion Roger Federer or Sweden's Robin Soderling for a place in Sunday's final.
The match was expected to be a bruising, baseline battle and so it started with both men comfortably holding on to serve until the 10th game, when unforced errors from Djokovic set up two break points for the Spaniard.
Two big serves from the Serb, the losing finalist here in 2007, saved those and he then levelled at 5-5.
The ensuing tie-break saw Djokovic gifted an early mini-break thanks to a double fault and he used that to put together five points in a row to take a one set to love lead.
Both players were struggling badly in the gusty, overcast conditions on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court, the proof of which were the 19 unforced errors for Djokovic and 18 for Verdasco in the first set alone.
