Rafael Nadal beats Fernando Verdasco at US Open

Nadal has lost in the semi-finals for the last two years

Rafael Nadal reached the US Open semi-finals for the third time with victory over fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco on another windy night in New York. The world number one, chasing the only Grand Slam title to have so far eluded him, won 7-5 6-3 6-4. And while his performance was not as fluent as Roger Federer's the night before, it was equally dominant. Nadal will play Mikhail Youzhny in the last four after the Russian beat Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets. That match will be played on 'Super Saturday' as well as the other semi-final between second seed Federer and third seed Novak Djokovic, with a first ever meeting in New York between Nadal and Federer a possibility for Sunday's final. "For now it's a very nice feeling to be in semi-finals for third time in a row in one of the most important tournaments of the world," said Nadal. "For me right now probably the most important. 

"I have to keep playing better if I want to win the final. It's a great thing for me, especially without losing a set. I played every day better."  Verdasco came into Thursday's quarter-final on the back of a four-and-a-half hour win over David Ferrer in the previous round, and with a 0-10 record against Nadal. The only scrap of hope that he could draw from previous meetings came from their last encounter on hard courts in the semi-finals of the 2009 Australian Open, which Nadal won but only after an epic five-hour struggle. Nadal has been in blistering form at Flushing Meadows, however, powering through the draw without being broken thanks to a heavier serve, which is the result of an adjustment to his grip. The wind that has plagued Flushing Meadows in the second week was as strong as ever, though, and Nadal struggled most with it in the early stages, although it was Verdasco's brilliance that led to the top seed finally dropping serve. A forehand up the line, a backhand cross-court and a backhand up the line gave the eighth seed three break points and Nadal netted a forehand to fall 2-1 behind, before mistiming a forehand in the wind when he had a chance to break straight back in the following game. 

Verdasco had earned the chance to take a shock lead but he faltered with the set in his sights, two double faults leading to his downfall in game eight, and it was no great surprise when Nadal broke to love to snatch the set four games later. While neither man was able to string together winners in the tricky conditions, Nadal's bedrock of making few unforced errors allied to his new-found serving strength left Verdasco with nowhere to go. After a slow start to the second, Verdasco opened the door with a forehand error in game six and Nadal snapped up the first break point of the set with a cool drop volley. Verdasco just could not make any headway on the Nadal serve after his initial breakthrough and the Majorcan eased into a two-set lead before breaking at the start of the third when, not for the first time, Verdasco could not control a high forehand in the wind. There was no hint of a wobble from eight-time Grand Slam champion Nadal as he confidently saw out the win, finishing the match having lost just 16 points on serve across two hours and 21 minutes. 

"It's very difficult to play, one of the more difficult days," said Nadal. "I know Fernando had a very tough match two days ago so he was probably a little more tired than usual." And Verdasco admitted: "For the game I need to do to beat Rafa, these conditions were very bad for me. My game plan was to push him all I can with my serve. It was very difficult to even make the toss of the ball."

US Open, Flushing Meadows
Dates: 30 August - 12 September Start time: 1600 BST
Coverage: Live text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles; updates on BBC Radio 5 live; live on Sky Sports

"It's very difficult to play, one of the more difficult days...Rafael Nadal"