South Africa’s Kevin Anderson ended American hopes in the men’s singles as he beat Sam Querrey to reach the US Open semi-finals.
Anderson won 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (9-11) 6-3 7-6 (9-7) at Flushing Meadows to reach his first major semi-final.
The 28th seed will take on Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the last four after the 12th seed beat Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-4 6-4 6-2.
“Incredible. It’s something I always dreamed of,” said Carreno Busta, 26.
“I tried to be focused all the time, play aggressive. I am very excited to be in the semi-finals.”
Anderson, 6ft 8in, and Querrey, 6ft 6in, met in the tallest Grand Slam quarter-final, semi-final or final of the Open era.
Not surprisingly, the pair shared 42 aces between them (Anderson 22, Querrey 20) and three tie-breaks, with Anderson coming back from 2-5 down to win the first and 17th seed Querrey levelling in a thrilling second-set decider.
It was Anderson who prevailed in the third with a solitary break of serve, and he clinched victory after three hours and 26 minutes in another gripping tie-break.
He becomes the first South African to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since Wayne Ferreira at the 2003 Australian Open.
BBC
