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Eight years ago, a callow Juan Martin del Potro short-circuited the possibility of a Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer US Open men’s singles final by blasting past Nadal in the semifinals. Wednesday night, before a rollicking packed house in Arthur Ashe Stadium, he did it again, this time handing Federer his first Grand Slam loss of 2017 in four heart-stopping sets.
And so instead of Fed-Nadal US Open Part I, we get Nadal-del Potro US Open Part II, which is pretty glorious indeed, a matchup of two beloved competitors with loyal fan bases and championship pedigrees, playing in what is sure to be a raucous Friday encounter.
But first, Thursday night is reserved for the women’s semifinals, and for the first time in 36 years, America’s Grand Slam will have a wholly American feel.
On Wednesday, CoCo Vandeweghe upset No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova and Madison Keys topped Kaia Kanepi to set up an all-American semifinal – the perfect pairing to another pair of U.S. aces set to face off in the bottom half of the draw: first-time US Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens and the grand dame of the women’s game, Venus Williams, who is into her ninth Open Final Four but her first since 2010.
With that, here’s a look back at Day 10 and a look ahead to Day 11 – the first All-American women’s semifinal day since 1981 – at the 2017 US Open:
Match of the Day
It was remarkably un-Fed like. Roger Federer, perhaps the most graceful athlete the sport has ever seen, got stuck, venturing forward, then lurching back, then looping a backhand long to squander his third of four sets points in the third-set tiebreak – four chances for a two-sets-to-one lead in his quarterfinal match against Juan Martin del Potro.
The Argentine needed only one.
Del Potro struck a brilliant cross-court backhand passing shot on his lone set point in the decisive third-set tiebreak, forcing a backhand volley long to claim the frame. It was the pivotal moment in a highly anticipated matchup that perhaps did not live up to their five-set 2009 US Open men’s final classic. But man, it came close.
Visibly winded by a virus that sapped his strength and an enervating five-setter Monday against Dominic Thiem, del Potro time and time again came up with his best tennis when he needed it most, defeating the Swiss, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Throughout the match, del Potro did what he does best – pound heavy first serves and club ferocious forehands, a combination that Federer, the game’s greatest tactician, managed to crack just twice. And on this night, those two breaks of serve were not enough – not enough to topple the gentle giant from Tandil, not enough to deliver the first-ever Fed-Nadal US Open matchup. Not enough against a very worthy champion who is back playing at the very top of his championship form.
play video Del Potro vs. Federer
Player of the Day
Rafael Nadal is unflinchingly honest, the rare athlete who routinely provides insight into his emotions, motivation and confidence. He has openly admitted to doubting himself in recent years, when injuries led to long layoffs and his exits from New York were premature – eliminated in the third round in five sets to Fabio Fognini in 2015, the fourth round in five sets to Lucas Pouille in 2016.
Coming into this year’s US Open, there were reasons for (if only mild) concern. Nadal lost to Gilles Muller in five sets in the fourth round of Wimbledon, a match uncomfortably similar to the ones he had dropped in the last two Opens here, and he failed to advance past the quarterfinals at either the Rogers Cup in Montreal or the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati earlier this summer. Nadal’s early rounds in Flushing Meadows increased the semi-worried whispers of his fans: an opening-set struggle against Dusan Lajovic and first-set setbacks versus Taro Daniel and Leonardo Mayer.
Throughout, Nadal said he was unbowed. They were not slow starts as much as a few missed opportunities, he said. Turns out, we should all listen more carefully to the man.
The top seed and world No. 1 was positively dominant for a second consecutive match on Wednesday, dismantling rising star Andrey Rublev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, in a tidy 96 minutes.
It appeared a mismatch on paper: an unseeded 19-year-old against a 15-time Grand Slam champion. But Rublev had been a giant killer coming in, with victories already over Top 10 seeds Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin. There would not be a third on Wednesday. Nadal never let the Russian breathe in this one, smothering the baseline and frustrating the youngster into a whopping 43 unforced errors (to only 18 winners).
Add his Wednesday win to his fourth-round whitewashing of Alexandr Dolgopolov, and Nadal has now dropped just 12 games over his last six stanzas – the perfect warmup for Friday’s main event: a titanic semifinal against Juan Martin del Potro.
play video Performance of the Day: Rafael Nadal
Upset of the Day
CoCo Vandeweghe is a confidence player – a woman prone to bouts of wildness but also sustained periods of lights-out tennis. Throughout her career, that push and pull of her game has waxed and waned, leading to inconsistent – albeit oftentimes spectacular – results.
Wednesday was somewhere in between, and the fact that Vandeweghe could shake off her unforced errors (32, to 24 winners) and occasionally uneven play to defeat the world No. 1, top seed and reigning finalist Karolina Pliskova, 7-6, 6-3, speaks to her maturation as a competitor – and her new-found sudden status as a Grand Slam title threat.
Her Day 10 victory means the No. 20 seed is into her second semifinal of the season – and the second of her career, alongside this year’s Australian Open. She also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and has starred for the U.S. in Fed Cup play, encouraging signs of sustained excellence for the 25-year-old.
Next up is friend and recent frequent foe Madison Keys; the two played twice during this summer’s US Open Series, both closely contested Keys’ victories. If Vandeweghe can turn the tables Thursday night, she will have an opportunity to add a US Open women’s crown to her trophy case – the kind of significant marker that turns an ascending talent into an enduring champion.
Photo 1 of 17
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal match at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - Pat Cash celebrates CoCo Vandeweghe's victory over Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe after her win against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal.
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe after her win against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal.
USTA/Pete Staples
September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.
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September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal match at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova in action against CoCo Vandeweghe in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - Pat Cash celebrates CoCo Vandeweghe's victory over Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe in action against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe celebrates beating Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal at the 2017 US Open.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe after her win against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal.September 6, 2017 - CoCo Vandeweghe after her win against Karolina Pliskova in a women's singles quarterfinal.

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Number of the Day
36: The number of the years since the US Open last featured four American women’s singles semifinalists, in 1981, with Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Barbara Potter. That was equaled when Madison Keys knocked out Kaia Kanepi in straight sets to join fellow Wednesday winner CoCo Vandeweghe and Tuesday victors Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens in the women’s Final Four.
It also marks the first time in 32 years that there has been a pair of all-American semifinals at any major. That occurred at Wimbledon 1985, when Chris Evert, Zina Garrison, Martina Navratilova, Kathy Rinaldi all advanced to the semi stage.

Quote of Day
“I was real nervous today. On the car ride on the way over, I was really feeling it. But I settled down once we started to play.” – Madison Keys, on needing to defeat Kaia Kanepi to set up the first all-American women’s semifinals since 1981; Keys won, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to her first US Open semifinal
play video Keys vs. Kanepi
Day 11 Preview
It's women’s semifinal day at the 2017 US Open, and for the fiirst time since 1981, all four members of the penultimate round hail from the U.S.
First-time US Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens plays nine-time Open semifinalist Venus Williams to lead off the evening, a matchup of two players who have overcome a lot – foot surgery and an 11-month layoff for Stephens; Sjogren’s Syndrome for Venus – to advance to the round of 4. Stephens, whose only other major semifinal came at the 2013 Australian Open, is in search of her first-ever Grand Slam final, while Venus is vying for her third Slam final of the year and her first major singles crown since Wimbledon 2008.
Good friends Madison Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe will close the day's play, facing off for the third time this summer. Keys won both earlier contests – in two tight sets in the Bank of the West Classic final in Stanford and in three sets in the first round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati – and has the advantage of having played during the night session for each of her last three matches. But Vandeweghe is coming off one of the best wins of her career, over No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.

16. US Open 2014 1903
17. Wimbledon 2016 1895
18. Wimbledon 2015 1861
19. US Open 2017 1772