Serb shot-maker Novak Djokovic and Spanish grafter David Ferrer on Thursday set up a US semi-final showdown for a possible challenge to top seed and defending champion Roger Federer. Djokovic, the 20-year-old revelation of the year, showed remarkable composure in defeating Spanish veteran Carlos Moya 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
Ferrer, better-known as a never-say-die claycourter, reached his first Grand semi by brushing aside the challenge of Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-3, 7-5. The two have met three times previously with Ferrer holding a 2-1 advantage, although Djokovic won their only hardcourt encounter to date at Indian Wells in March.
Red-hot favourite Federer was already through to the semi-finals with his straight sets defeat of Andy Roddick late Wednesday. The Swiss star will take on Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, against whom he has a perfect 9-0 record including a straight-sets win in last year's semi-finals at Flushing Meadows.
Rarely, all four quarter-finals resulted in straight-set victories. Both semi-finals will be played on Saturday. Djokovic, who rose to No 3 in the world after he beat Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Federer one after the other to lift the Montreal Masters last month, showed an old head on young shoulders to edge the 31-year-old Moya in two closely fought opening sets of their quarter-final.
He then ran away with the third set against a resigned-looking Moya and took the time out afterwards to entertain the crowd with his impressions of Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal. "I knew that Carlos is a good competitor, he is a former world No 1 and he had a great tournament, but luckily I played my best tennis and I had luck in the second set tie-break," he said. "I've been playing really well this year had impressive results especially on hardcourts.
"I will be favourite against Ferrer, but he won against Nadal so it's going to be a difficult match." It was a breakthrough win for the bantamweight Ferrer, who cashed in on his shock upset of second-seeded compatriot Rafael Nadal in the previous round. He also saved a match point against David Nalbandian in the third round.
Ferrer said the win was particularly satisfying because it proved to himself that he could be competitive on a surface other than clay which is his speciality.
"If you had told me beforehand that I would have reached the semi-finals in hard court, I don't believe you," he said. "But this tournament is a dream for me. I was playing very, very well and with Nalbandian match point for him and I won this match. Really happy.
Ferrer, one of the fittest and most durable players on the circuit, took control of the exchanges from the start as Chela struggled to produce his best tennis following exhausting back-to-back five set wins against Ivan Ljubicic and Stanislas Wawrinka.
The Valencia resident comfortably took the first two sets despite Chela saving five sets points at 2-5 down in the second. What looked like being a cakewalk for Ferrer took a new twist as Chela broke to lead 2-0 at the start of the third set. But that proved to be short lived as the more lively looking Ferrer broke back immediately to level. Chela held on grimly until 5-5 when Ferrer again ground him down to grab the vital break of serve.