Bagelled Nadal survives

Defending champion Rafa Nadal failed to win a single game in the opening set of his US Open quarterfinal against Dominic Thiem on Tuesday but fought back to beat the Austrian 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) in a match that ended after 2:00am in New York.

Nadal struggled with the high humidity, with Thiem becoming the first to 'bagel' the Spaniard at Flushing Meadows since Andy Roddick 14 years ago.

"It's been a great battle," an exhausted Nadal said. "The conditions were tough, very humid for me."

"I'm very sorry for Dominic," Nadal added. "He's a close friend on tour, a great guy and I wish him the very best ... He is young and has plenty of time to win tournaments."

In the women's circuit, Serena William powered her way to within two victories of a seventh title and while she refused to look ahead there are many willing to do it for her, and what they see is a suddenly open path to a 24th Grand Slam.

“I'd been a couple steps away at the last Grand Slam, so I'm definitely not ahead of myself," said Williams."I still know that no matter whether I'm in the semi-finals or the finals, I have a really long way to go to win that."

Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese woman in 22 years to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam when she defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-1 in the last-eight.

Osaka wasn't born when compatriot Kimiko Date made the Wimbledon semifinals in 1996 but now the 20-year-old has the opportunity to go one better by reaching a maiden Grand Slam final.