NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal will play Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in the US Open semi-finals after the 18-time Grand Slam champion defeated Argentine 20th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

Second seed Nadal — a winner at Flushing Meadows in 2010, 2013 and 2017 — beat a spirited Schwartzman for the eighth time in as many meetings in a nearly three-hour match that finished early on Thursday morning at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are both out of the bracket, but Nadal is still around, meaning at least one member of the Big Three is in the semi-finals at a 62nd consecutive major tournament. That trio has combined to win the last 11 Slam trophies and Nadal is going to be heavily favoured to make that 12.

None of the other men left has played in a major final, let alone won one. Nadal, though, is closing in on a fourth championship at the US Open and his 19th at all majors, which would move him only within one of Federer’s record for men.

On Friday, Nadal will play No. 24 Matteo Berrettini, a 23-year-old from Rome who is Italy’s first male semi-finalist in New York since 1977. Berrettini barely got there, edging 13th seed Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) earlier on Wednesday.

The other men’s semi-final will be between fifth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and 78th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, 13th seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and 15th seed Bianca Andreescu joined Serena Williams and Elina Svitolina in the women’s semi-finals after winning their respective quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Andreescu became the first teen US Open semi-finalist in a decade, rallying to defeat Belgium’s Elise Mertens and advance to a last-four matchup with Bencic.

Andreescu, a 19-year-old from suburban Toronto, downed 25th seed Mertens 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to book a clash against fellow Slam semi-final debutante Bencic, who beat Croatian 23rd seed Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Either Bencic or Andreescu, who have never played each other, will reach her first Slam final on Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where first-time Slam winners have been crowned three of the past four years.

A year ago, it was Nadal whose body broke down: He retired from his semi-final against runner-up Juan Martin del Potro because of a bad knee.

This time, on a muggy night with the humidity above percent, the left-hander raised some concern by having a trainer come out to rub a cream into that forearm during a changeover early in the third set. At the next changeover, Nadal flexed his right forearm and was visited again by the trainer, took a salt pill and guzzled some drinks, then shook that arm between points in the following game.

Whatever might have been wrong, Nadal managed to play his best when it mattered the most against the 20th-seeded Schwartzman, an Argentine serenaded by loud choruses of “Ol! Ol! Ol! Ol!” by an audience that included former San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili.

Nadal came up with a service break in the last game of each of the opening two sets, then the last one he would need made it 4-2 in the third and he broke yet again to end it.

Now Nadal becomes Berrettini’s problem.

Berrettini describes his mental coach as a big help and a best friend. They’ve been speaking on the phone before and after every match. And they certainly had plenty to chat about when it came to this latest victory.

Berrettini double-faulted away his initial match point and then needed four more to finally put away Monfils after nearly four hours.

“He told me, ‘I need to thank you, because I thought that everyone is born once and dies once. But during that match, I was born and died 15 or 16 times,’.”

Collated results on Wednesday (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 24-Matteo Berrettini (Italy) bt 13-Gael Monfils (France) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5); 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt 20-Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

Women’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 13-Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) bt 23-Donna Vekic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; 15-Bianca Andreescu (Canada) bt 25-Elise Mertens (Belgium) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2019