New York: Sixth seed Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro roared into his second Grand Slam semi-final of the year with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Croatian 16th seed Marin Cilic at the US Open on Thursday.
After winning the first set and holding a 3-1 lead in the second, Cilic started spraying his groundstrokes and the demoralised Croat lost 17 of the final 20 games of the match.
Cilic had 53 unforced errors, compared to just 24 for Del Potro. The Argentine, one of tour's hottest players, converted all eight of his break-point opportunities.
Del Potro, who reached the last four at the French Open, will face the winner of the match between third seed Rafael Nadal and No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez.
Five-times champion Roger Federer and fourth seed Novak Djokovic will contest the other semi-final of the year's final Grand Slam tournament.
Rain lashes Flushing Meadows
After 10 days of clear weather, rain and winds swept through Flushing Meadows Thursday, tossing the US Open's final weekend into disarray and stranding Nadal and Gonzalez in the midst of their quarter-final.
For the second year running, Nadal faces the prospect of playing a string of successive days at the year's last major if he is to win the only Grand Slam missing from his collection.
Nadal was leading Gonzalez 7-6, 6-6 with the Chilean serving at 2-3 in the tiebreak when a second shower burst halted Day 11 proceedings at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Nadal and Gonzalez will resume their battle no earlier than 1400 (1800GMT) on Friday following the first women's semi-final pitting champion Serena Williams against Kim Clijsters.
The semi-final between Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Belgian Yanina Wickmayer will follow the men's contest.
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