Nadal erases Verdasco, returns to championship weekend

In a historically good US Open for men from Spain, Rafael stood tall as the only Spaniard to reach championship weekend, courtesy of a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 dousing of countryman Fernando Verdasco. The victory again moves Nadal within two matches of winning the US Open and completing a career Grand Slam, and one win from the final and a potential showdown with his on-court nemesis Roger Federer. Nadal lost in the semifinals here the last two years.

On a cold and windy night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Nadal limited his unforce errors to 16, 11 of which came in the first set when he started slow and dropped serve for the first time in the tournament. Verdasco made 41 errors and became increasingly frustrated with both the wind and his fading chances to beat Nadal for the first time in 11 tries.

"It's great news for me, especially this year without losing a set," Nadal said. "So is very good news. I think I played every day better. Today I played ?? for the conditions, I think I played a great match against very difficult opponent like Fernando. So for me, be in semifinals is amazing. But I have to keep going and keep playing better if I really want to have chances to be in the final."

Verdasco, two days removed from his five-set epic against David Ferrer, was sharp early, and smacked three clean winners to break Nadal at in the third game of the match. Nadal responded by serving the rest of the match without going break point down.

The sixth and seventh games were both love holds and with both players settling into the tough conditions it looked like the match might turn into a server's paradise. But out of the changeover Verdasco played a sloppy game and eventually went break point down after a pair of deuces. Nadal then successfully challenged an apparent ace and Verdasco missed the second serve to square the set, 4-all.

In the twelfth game Nadal raced once to each corner to put would-be winners back into play. On the second Verdasco hit a wild backhand volley to go down 0-30. Two points later Nadal had secured the opening set.

Asked what bothered him the most about the conditions, Verdasco replied, "Everything."

There was little in the way of drama during the second and third sets. Neither player had his serve challenged until the sixth game when Nadal took control of the set, breaking Verdasco after a pair of deuces and ending it with a well-timed drop shot. A good caption of the match came with Nadal serving for the set and ahead 0-30. Verdasco constructed the point perfectly and had the point on his backhand and almost the entire court open, but he fired it well wide to give Nadal triple set point. A forehand, cross-court winner made it two sets to none and sapped much of the energy out of the stadium.

The decisive moment of the third set came quickly. Nadal pulled out the drop shot again which Verdasco reached. The world No. 1 responded by throwing up a lob that had Verdasco scurrying back to the baseline to no avail. That made it 15-40. Verdasco saved one and then hit a forehand error to go down an early break.

In the ninth game of the set, Nadal roused the crowd when he rushed to net and did a 360 after hitting a gorgeous, pickup volley on the game's first point. Verdasco dug in and won the next four points, forcing Nadal to serve out the match. He did so with little trouble.

Nadal stuck to his tournament long policy of not speculating about the final, only to reiterate that Federer is the man to beat. He did agree that he seems to have arrived in the semis in better shape than the last two years.

"This year I think ?? I know how important is the US Open for me right now, and I know I have to arrive to this tournament fresh if I want to have any chance to have a very good result. That's what I tried. I think I did. I am at the right round without problems, so that's very positive? Right now remain the most difficult thing."