New York - Rafael Nadal buried his growing US Open weather frustration Saturday to finally complete a marathon quarter-final, crushing Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 in a match which began Thursday. The contest was completely rained off Friday, a development which resulted in the men's final being postponed to Monday for the second year in a row at the hard-luck major which still has no plans for a covered showcase court.
Nadal will now have to play three days in succession if he is to fulfill a dream of completing his Grand Slam matched set by winning at Flushing Meadows.
The Spaniard who is nursing an abdominal strain will play a semi-final Sunday against Argentine Juan Del Potro, who booked his place in the last four on Wednesday.
"He's a good player, very solid from thebaseline," said Nadal, 4-2 in the seriesbut twice a loser to the Argentine this season. "I must play my best tennis if I want to have an chance to win. And that's what I hope to do."
Five-time champion Roger Federer and Serb fourth seed Novak Djokovic will also play Sunday, four days after both advanced, as the Swiss aims for a record sixth consecutive title in New York.
Women also face their own scheduling dramas, with both semi-finals set for Saturday and the final on Sunday.
The teenaged pair of Dane Caroline Wozniacki and Belgian outsider Yanina Wickmayer were playing later while Kim Clijsters and second-seeded holder Serena Williams were set for a night-time showdown.
Nadal came out against Gonzalez after winning the opening set - he saved two Gonzalez set points - and leading 3-2 in the second-set tiebreaker.
The Spaniard went quickly to work and wrapped up the second set on three Gonzalez forehand errors and a backhand to the net.
The out-of-sorts Chilean 11th seed then began the third set by losing serve on a double-fault in the opening game.
As the desperation grew for Gonzalez, Nadal was able to take advantage, the third seed going up a double-break as skies remained heavily overcast and the threat of rain never far away.
Gonzalez made more errors in the brief Saturday encounter (21) than Nadal did in the entire match (13), with the Chilean's mighty forehand letting him down with two straight errors form that side to lose.
"It's very difficult to start with a tiebreak," said Nadal. "It's a lottery and anything can happen.
"I won the first four points when we resumed and that set the tone. This is a very important result for me. I knew how tough it is to wait a day and a half to play."
The Spaniard said that Friday's enforced day off gave his abdominal muscles some healing time.
"That might have helped me to recover a bit better. I felt good today. Fernando had some errors today which helped me," he said.
"I'm in the semi-finals now and I hope to keep doing well."
