US Open - Men: Nadal cruises into quarter-finals

Rafael Nadal edged closer to a place in his first US Open final after thrashing fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 6-4 in the fourth round.

The world number one, who would complete the collection of Grand Slam titles with a victory at Flushing Meadows, had few problems wrapping up his fourth straight-sets win of this year's championship.

The start was delayed due to a backlog of matches and did not finish until early on Wednesday morning, but the result appeared a foregone conclusion from the moment Nadal strolled out to the centre court dressed menacingly in an all-black outfit.
His opponent in Thursday's quarter-finals is another Davis Cup team-mate, Fernando Verdasco, who advanced the hard way by wearing down David Ferrer 5-7 6-7(8) 6-3 6-3 7-6(4) after almost four and a half hours on court.

Verdasco's bid to reach the quarter-finals for a second straight year looked incredibly slim as he failed to find his range with his high-risk, heavy-hitting style of play and duly lost the first two sets.
But a medical timeout for treatment to his right ankle turned the tide of a captivating match and the 26-year-old, immensely popular with the crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium, unleashed a barrage of winners with his powerful forehand.

He levelled the match but found himself a break down in the fifth against the run of play before turning it around to win the four-hour and 23-minute encounter in a deciding tiebreak.

Stanislas Wawrinka ensured a first for Switzerland at the US Open when he edged out big-serving American Sam Querrey 7-6(9) 6-7(5) 7-5 4-6 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

Wawrinka wrapped up a gruelling victory in four hours 28 minutes to join five-times champion Roger Federer in the last eight, the first time Switzerland has ever had two men in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event.

Number 25 seed Wawrinka, who upset fourth seed Andy Murray in the previous round, took the first-set tie-break 11-9, but was broken when serving for the second set as Querrey hit back to level the match.

Wawrinka then came from 3-1 down to win the third set but Querrey broke once to level again before Wawrinka broke in the 10th game of the decider to win and set up a clash with Russian 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny.

Youzhny reached the fourth Grand Slam quarter-final of his career with a convincing 7-5 6-2 4-6 6-4 victory over Spain's Tommy Robredo.

Youzhny, a semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2006, successfully landed 62 per cent of his first serves and blasted 50 winners to win the fourth-round encounter.

After dropping the first two sets, Robredo forced his way back into the match with a solitary break in the third set. But he did not have the consistency to challenge his 28-year-old opponent as the match wore on.

Robredo was one of five Spaniards in action in the men's singles draw on day nine of the tournament.
Reuters