Nadal books spot alongside Anderson in U.S. Open final

Rafael Nadal is one win away from a 16th major title and third at the U.S. Open. The world No. 1 took another step–and a big one–toward that destination when he beat Juan Martin Del Potro 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 in Friday night’s second semifinal.

Like five Del Potro opponents before him, Nadal fell victim to arguably the most ferocious forehand in the game–but only briefly. After losing the opening set by getting broken just once, the Spaniard picked up his aggressiveness and his overall level to seize complete control. Nadal cracked more winners than Del Potro in each of the last three sets, including by an overwhelming 13 to two margin in the second.

“I don’t feel I [made] many mistakes after that first set,” Nadal assessed. “And I really hit good winners. I served well; I served really well. In general terms, [it was] a great match. I’m very happy with the way I played.”

“Rafa just played even better the last three sets of the match,” Del Potro praised. “I couldn’t hit my backhand as good as I did in the beginning of the match. He was [dominating]. He played well…. To be honest, I’m angry to lose a chance like this, but maybe tomorrow I will be calm and see how big the tournament was for me.”

This tournament is getting bigger and bigger with each passing round for Kevin Anderson. In fact, it is without question the best of his career. The world No. 32 is through to his first Grand Slam final after getting the best of Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in a surprising semifinal matchup.

Anderson surrendered serve just in the first set and gave back a break in the second, but a break of Carreno Busta at 6-5 to level the match at one set apiece proved to be the turning point. In sets three and four, the 6’8” South African blasted a combined 10 aces without double-faulting and did not face a single break point.

“(It’s) definitely amazing feeling being in this position and have worked very hard to get here,” Anderson assured. “It feels great to be in the stage I’m in. More important, (I) have given myself a shot at being in the finals and I will be playing for a Grand Slam trophy. That’s an amazing feeling. I have to get ready; still obviously a very difficult match ahead of me. But I think right now I’m just trying to unwind a little bit and just enjoy sort of today’s match.”

Carreno Busta came out on the losing end of it, but he was satisfied with the overall quality.

“I think it was really good match,” the Spaniard said. “Maybe at the beginning he did a lot of mistakes, but I played aggressive, too. So I think the first set was very good for me. But then he started to play more aggressive…. He was playing with confidence, was very good, and he was more aggressive than me. Congrats to him, because we played very good match.”

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