New York: Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka reached his first semi-final in 35 Grand Slam appearances after ousting defending champion Andy Murray 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday afternoon at the US Open.
The ninth-seeded Wawrinka, who had fallen in his previous three major quarter-finals, recorded his seventh Top 10 win since April, beginning with a straight-sets win over Murray at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. On Tuesday, he had defeated World No. 5 Tomas Berdych in four sets in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, World No. 1 Novak Djokovicclaimed the last available place in the US Open semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 win against Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, Thursday night on Arthur AsheStadium.
Djokovic, the 2011 champion, dropped his first set of the tournament but roared back to win the final set in 29 minutes. He won 70 per cent of first serve points in front of a crowd that included prominent businessman Richard Branson and actors Sean Connery and Tommy Lee Jones.
