TENNIS in DEPTH.

Rafael Nadal moved a step closer to a potential Sunday showdown with Roger Federer after advancing to the semi-finals of the US Open for the third year in succession.

Nadal beat fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-5 6-3 6-4 in their quarter-final at Flushing Meadows and will now face Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Youzhny came from two sets to one down to beat Stanislas Wawrinka 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-3 in Thursday’s other quarter-final, while five-time champion Federer faces Novak Djokovic in the remaining semi-final.

Nadal had won all 10 of his previous meetings with eighth seed Verdasco, losing just three sets in the process, although two of those did come in an epic five-set semi-final at the Australian Open in 2009 which lasted a record five hours and 14 minutes.

However, it was Verdasco who jumped out to a surprise early lead in the opening set on a chilly, windy night in New York, Nadal losing his serve for the first time in the tournament after 62 successful holds.

Verdasco could not make the most of his chance though, committing two double faults in a row to give back the break and then getting broken to love in the 12th game as Nadal took the set after 59 minutes.

A single break of serve was enough for Nadal to take the second set too, and when the top seed broke in the first game of the third the writing was well and truly on the wall.

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Stanislas Wawrinka followed up his win over Andy Murray by prevailing in a five-set epic against Sam Querrey to reach the last eight of a grand slam for the first time at the US Open.

The Swiss 25th seed triumphed 7-6 (11-9) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 4-6 6-4 in a match lasting just shy of four and a half hours to seal a quarter-final tie with Mikhail Youzhny, who saw off the challenge of Tommy Robredo earlier in the day.

The first set went with serve to set up a lengthy tie-break, which Wawrinka eventually took 13-11.

But he then wasted four set points while serving at 5-4 in the second set to allow Querrey to force a tie-break, and the sole remaining home hope took full advantage of his second chance.

Having hit back from an early break in the third set, Wawrinka then broke in the 11th game to re-establish his lead, but 20th seed Querrey continued to battle and sent the game to a decider as he managed to take the fourth set on his sixth set point.

However, Wawrinka, who continued to receive treatment to the thigh he injured against Murray, finally sealed the win as he claimed the crucial break in the 10th game to take the final set.

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Andy Murray made a shock third-round exit at the US Open after suffering a dramatic slump against 25th seed Stanislas Wawrinka.

Murray served for a two-set lead at one stage but fortunes shifted wildly as erratic form and injury problems saw both men take and lose the initiative.

And with the Scot frustrated and struggling to move freely, Wawrinka prevailed 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-3.

The Swiss will play American 20th seed Sam Querrey in the last 16.

Wawrinka came into Sunday’s match as a heavy underdog against the fourth seed, who was tipped by most to challenge for a first Grand Slam title over the next week.

But after three hours and 56 minutes in the Louis Armstrong stadium Murray was a shadow of his recent self, unable to move after twice requiring treatment to his left thigh and struggling to keep his temper in check.

Wawrinka had also called for the trainer to strap his thigh during a bizarre third set that saw both men appear on the brink of retirement at one stage, but the Swiss proved the stronger in the closing stages.

His attacking style had given Murray problems from the start and, after saving four break points in game two, he broke serve in the following game and moved impressively to 5-2 with six aces and 20 winners.

But serving for the set the pressure told and the winners dried up, allowing Murray back into the match as he reeled off three games in a row.

The Scot then dominated the tie-break, despite an angry outburst at 2-0 when he felt a call of “Allez!” from Wawrinka had contributed to him missing a drop shot.

A purple patch followed and a sweeping forehand winner and inch-perfect backhand lob gave Murray a break for 2-0 in the second set, but there were many more twists and turns to come.

Murray played a desperately loose game at 3-1 to drop serve and, after breaking once more for 5-3, saw Wawrinka get the deficit back again with some of the carefree hitting he had shown earlier.

The Briton was clearly fuming at having let the chance slip away and his frustration was evident in the tie-break as Wawrinka took charge from the outset, moving 4-1 up and closing it out with a sharp serve-volley.

Things got even worse for Murray in the third set as he began to struggle physically and failed to chase down balls that he would normally have returned with relish, and the trainer was called when he trailed 4-1.

After the briefest of attention to his thigh the focus immediately shifted to Wawrinka, who appeared to cramp at the other end and took a medical timeout to get his thigh strapped.

It was the Swiss who came out much the stronger from the bout of medical treatment and he served out for a two-sets-to-one lead before breaking at the start of the fourth, with Murray now playing from way behind the baseline.

There was another twist in this strangest of matches when Wawrinka fired a forehand long in the following game to hand the break straight back, but a magnificent drop shot in game five helped the Swiss regain the advantage and this time he held on.

Murray was left bent over in either pain or frustration at one point, looking forlornly at his supporters’ box, although he bravely recovered from 0-40 to stay alive in game seven.

It did not seem impossible that Wawrinka might get tight when serving for the match but he avoided that potential drama by breaking again to seal an unexpected and extraordinary victory.

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Andy Roddick booked his place in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters following a 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky.

After taking the first set, the two-time champion blew a 5-2 lead in the second-set tiebreaker before breaking early in the third to seal the match.

“That third set was actually a blessing in disguise. That’s the best I’ve played in months,” said the American.

But 14th seed Nicolas Almagro was beaten by Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-3.

The Spaniard was the only seed to fall in the first round, while Taylor Dent, ranked 83rd in the world, set up a second-round encounter against world number one Rafael Nadal after beating Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-2.

Tenth seed David Ferrer was taken to three sets in a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov but 13th seed Jurgen Melzer had little trouble in dispatching qualifier Santiago Giraldo 6-1 6-4.

There were also wins for Thiemo de Bakker, Sam Querrey, Thomaz Bellucci and Michael Berrer.

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Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka claimed his second career title with a straight-sets victory over Victor Hanescu in the final of the ATP Grand Prix Hassan II in Morocco this afternoon.

The 25-year-old Swiss triumphed 6-2 6-3 over his third-seeded Romanian opponent to add the Casablanca crown to his maiden win on the clay of Umag four years ago.

Wawrinka, the world number 23, broke Hanescu’s serve twice in each set to close out a straightforward victory.

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Stanislas Wawrinka overcame a terrible second set to reach the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca on Thursday.

The number one seed took the first set 6-4 against Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan, but was broken three times in the second on his way to losing it 6-0.

But the Swiss player managed to hold his nerve to bounce back and take the deciding set 6-4.

Third seed Victor Hanescu had to come from a set down to Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen to advance. The Romanian lost the opener 6-2 but battled back to take the next two sets 6-3 6-2.

France’s Richard Gasquet is also through after a 6-1 6-1 win over Andrey Golubev, while Moroccan wild card Reda El Amrani beat Jan Hajek 6-3 2-6 6-2.

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Reigning champion Marin Cilic of Croatia retained the ATP Chennai Open title with his first-ever win over Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland on Sunday.

Cilic, who had lost all four previous meetings against Wawrinka, finally broke the jinx to carve out a hard-fought 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3) win in a final that lasted two hours and 40 minutes.

The second-seeded Cilic became the first player after Spanish veteran Carlos Moya’s victories in 2004 and 2005 to win back-to-back crowns in South Asia’s only ATP event.

The world number 14 earned 68,450 dollars and 250 ranking points for his morale-boosting effort ahead of the season’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne on January 18.

The 21st-ranked Wawrinka, seeded third here behind Roger Soderling and Cilic, picked up 35,980 dollars and 150 ranking points.

Cilic dropped just one set in five matches in the 400,000-dollar event at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium to clinch his fourth career title in six ATP finals.

Wawrinka secured the first break of the match in the eight game, but Cilic broke back immediately in the ninth to force the set into the tie-breaker, which the Croatian won easily.

The Swiss star, who called for the trainer in the first set for a neck strain, lost his serve in the second game of the second set, but broke back in the third to draw level.

Cilic wasted two break points for a 5-3 lead as Wawrinka fought back to take the match into a second tie-breaker, which the tall Croatian dominated once again.

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Stanislas Wawrinka, was given a stern test by a rejuvenated Ivan Ljubicic before eventually prevailing 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-4. Ljubicic is back in the world’s top 25 after winning in Lyon last week but, having battled for more than two hours, came up just short against the sixth seed.

Roger Federer eased into the quarter-finals of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in his home town of Basle on Wednesday evening.

The world number one, who has won the title for the last three years, defeated Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3 6-3 to extend his winning streak at the tournament to 17 matches.

Marin Cilic, the runner-up in Vienna last week, maintained his late challenge for a place at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month by reaching the second round.

The Croatian fourth seed defeated Philipp Petzschner 6-4 6-4 but seventh seed James Blake was ousted 7-6 (7/4) 6-7 (6/8) 6-4 by France’s Jeremy Chardy.

Fifth seed Radek Stepanek was involved in the day’s longest match, the Czech needing two hours and 20 minutes to see off Florent Serra 3-6 7-6 (7/1) 7-6 (7/1).

Horacio Zeballos reached his first main tour final at the St Petersburg Open last weekend but there will be no repeat this week after he was beaten 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 by Richard Gasquet.

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