NEW YORK, 8 September 2006 — Second seed Rafael Nadal was knocked out of the US Open by an inspired Mikhail Youzhny, falling 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday under a flurry of winners by the unseeded Russian.
Russian pin-up girl Maria Sharapova also reached the semifinals with a 7-6 (7 4), 7-6 (7 0) win over Tatiana Golovin of France.
The third seed will play top seed Amelie Mauresmo of France for a place in the final.
The 54th-ranked Youzhny, whose main claim to fame was a victory from two sets down in the fifth and decisive Davis Cup final match against France in 2002, rose to the occasion again in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Hitting out from both wings, the 24-year-old Youzhny set up angles for winners and found the mark with amazing consistency, cracking 49 winners against just 23 for the French Open champion in registering the biggest shock of the tournament so far.
“It was a very tough match,” Youzhny said after his three hour 16-minute victory. “I can’t believe I beat Rafael in four sets.” The Russian turned around the match in the third set when he battled back from 0-40 to save three set points before holding serve for 5-5 and forcing a tiebreaker, which he won 7-5 by winning the last three points.
Nadal, 20, had been hoping to reach his first US Open final for a possible third successive grand slam showdown against world No. 1 Roger Federer. Nadal won the French Open final over Federer, while the Swiss top seed beat the Spaniard to the Wimbledon crown.
Federer took his next step toward claiming a third straight US Open title by joining women’s top seed Amelie Mauresmo in posting easy straight-sets wins under sunny skies at Flushing Meadows.
After rain wiped out nearly all of Tuesday’s matches, clear skies and cool temperatures greeted the players as tournament officials scrambled to make up for lost time.
Federer won the first three games of his fourth-round match without losing a point against Marc Gicquel on his way to a 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 victory over the Frenchman.
On the women’s side, second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne set up a semifinal showdown with Serbian Jelena Jankovic by battling past Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 6-4 in a match between former champions. The 2003 winner, bidding to reach her fourth successive Grand Slam final, won a hard-fought contest to set up a clash with Serbian 19th seed Jelena Jankovic. A break in the seventh game was enough to give the Belgian the first set but she then had treatment for a rib problem. Davenport broke on her way to a 3-1 lead in the second set but Henin-Hardenne wiped out the advantage immediately and broke again in the ninth game to clinch her seventh consecutive victory over the American. Henin-Hardenne, who said her rib injury would be fine by today, was expecting a tough outing against Jankovic.
In the quarterfinals, eight-time Grand Slam champion Federer will play fifth-seeded American James Blake, a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 winner against 12th seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. Blake, 26, who reached the quarterfinals last year before falling to eventual runner-up Andre Agassi, belted 13 aces and was never broken despite facing 15 break points.
