Carreno Busta beats Shapovalov to reach US Open semi-finals

Carreno Busta of Spain defeated Canada ’ s Denis Shapovalov in a roller - coaster of a five - setter to reach the US Open semi - finals early Wednesday .

The 20 th seed overcame his 12 th - seeded opponent 3 - 6 , 7 - 6 ( 7 /5 ) , 7 - 6 ( 7 /4 ) , 0 - 6 , 6 - 3 in 4 hr 8 min inside Arthur Ashe Stadium .

The Spaniard will play fifth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany , who progressed to the semis earlier Tuesday, for a place in Sunday’ s final.

“ I’ m destroyed , but I’ m very , very happy after this fight, this battle , ” said Carreno Busta, who was a US Open semi - finalist in 2017 .

He said it was “ incredible ” to be back in the last - four again after working “ very , very hard” with his coach during the quarantine shutdown .

Carreno Busta admitted though that fortune was on his side at times in the match .

“ I was a little bit lucky here , ” the 29 - year -old said .

Shapovalov was undone by ill - timed double faults and misplaced shots during key moments of the match .

His service game was particularly wayward during the two tie - break sets he lost.

Shapovalov hit 11 double faults while Carreno Busta had only one .

The Canadian smashed 76 winners compared to just 33 by the Spaniard .

But Shapovalov was also his own worst enemy, recording a whopping 77 unforced errors to the 42 hit by Carreno Busta.

The tie - break sets that Carreno Busta won were a test of endurance, lasting 77 and 68 minutes .

When Shapovalov sprinted to a 6 - 0 win in the fourth set in just 28 minutes , the writing seemed to be on the wall for the Spanish player .

But after a medical timeout , he surged to a 5 - 2 lead in the deciding set before a couple of errant forehands by Shapovalov in the final game handed Carreno Busta victory.

He had progressed to the quarter - final match by default after Novak Djokovic was disqualified during their last - 16 match for accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball .

The disqualification of Djokovic blew the men’ s competition at Flushing Meadows wide open .

His departure means the US Open will crown a first - time Grand Slam winner on Sunday.

In Wednesday ’ s quarter - final matches, second seed Dominic Thiem plays Australia ’ s Alex de Minaur and third seed Daniil Medvedev takes on Russian compatriot Andrey Rublev.

( AFP )