NEW YORK — Rafael Nadal had sweated through three shirts by the start of the second set of a fourth-round U.S. Open match Thursday night.
Frenchman Gael Monfils was pummeling the Spaniard and had committed a chest-thumping, arm-raising, bellowing-to-the-heavens celebration after winning one set, in a tiebreaker.
But Nadal, even with a sore abdominal muscle and the rustiness he is still shedding from knee tendinitis, just kept hitting harder until Monfils was bent over searching for air. The third-seeded Nadal withstood the 13th-seeded Monfils' early barrage and won going away, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3, at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Nadal's willingness to fight back after one bad set was in stark contrast to the way 2008 Open finalist Andy Murray performed. Murray, seeded second, made a lifeless exit, losing, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, to 16th-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia. Murray called the defeat "the worst of my career."
A different tempo was set in Ashe Stadium in the first night match, one that included sky-scraping lobs, line-kissing ground strokes, 115-mph serves and Serena Williams pumping her fists and shouting "Come on!" after her final, eye-popping forehand.
Williams, the defending champion and seeded second this year, conquered 10th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 6-4, 6-3. Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters won her quarterfinal as well, 6-2, 6-4 over 18th-seeded Li Na of China. It was Clijsters' 12th straight Open win (she hasn't played here since she won her only major title in 2005), and it set up a glamour semifinal against Williams.
It had been Clijsters who eliminated Serena's sister, Venus, in the fourth round Friday. Though Clijsters is unseeded after a two-year retirement, Serena suggested that even though she has a career 7-1 record against the Belgian, the 26-year-old wife and mother of an 18-month-old daughter is playing better than ever.
"I just saw how well she moved," Serena said. "Seems like she's faster than what she was before. I was thinking maybe I should have a baby and come back."
Clijsters, who won her 100th Grand Slam tournament match, said, "I have a really good feeling the way I stayed focused after the Venus match. Like I didn't lose focus just by everything that was going on around me. . . . I think that's something that I learned from the past, when you beat big players not to get carried away and just refocus on a match like today."
