Clijsters rallies in style to oust Stosur

Belgian to meet Venus in semis; Wawrinka through

Now unbeaten at Flushing Meadows in 19 matches dating back over five years, the Belgian regained her composure when she needed it most to reel off four games in a row and defeat Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in an error-prone but absorbing centre court clash.

She now faces Venus Williams in Friday's semifinal after the former world number one kept the host nation in the championship with a 7-6, 6-4 win over French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.

The United States' hopes of winning the men's title were extinguished when Sam Querrey lost a four and a half hour armwrestle with Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, the first of two five-setters on a marathon eighth day that did not finish until 1.16am (0516 GMT) Wednesday morning.

The Spanish pair of Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer also slugged it out at the Louis Armstrong stadium for nearly four and a half hours before Verdasco emerged victorious 5-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6, sealing his win with a spectacular winner that went round the net post.

The prize for his gruelling win is a quarterfinal showdown with world number one Rafael Nadal, who restored some normality to the day by beating Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Nadal has never made it past the semifinals in New York but is in devastating form this year, winning his four matches in straight sets without dropping a single game on service.

Wawrinka faces 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny next after the Russian outclassed Tommy Robredo, one of five Spanish men in action, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Clijsters , the second seed ,had cruised through her first four matches this year in straight sets but found herself in deep trouble against Stosur when she began struggling with her serve in the swirling wind and admitted she was lucky to escape.
Williams provided a dazzling display that matched her sparkling pink dress to reach the semis at New York for the eighth time in 12 years.

Verdasco, seeded eighth, looked to be heading to defeat against Ferrer, seeded 10th, but managed to turn the match around and ended up collapsing on the court with exhaustion after scrambling to hit the brilliant final winner.

Tuesday’s results at the US Open (prefix denotes seeding):
Men’s singles, fourth round: 1-Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt 23-Feliciano Lopez (Spa) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 8-Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt 10-David Ferrer (Spa) 5-7, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); 25-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt 20-Sam Querrey (US) 7-6 (11-9), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4;
Women’s singles, quarterfinals: 2-Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt 5-Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3; 3-Venus Williams (US) bt 6-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Men's doubles (semifinals): 1-Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (US) bt 12-Marcel Granollers/Tommy Robredo (Esp) 6-1, 6-4.