Anderson sets up US Open last eight showdown against Querrey

South Africa’s Kevin Anderson will meet American Sam Querrey for a place in US Open semi-finals after both men advanced to the last eight on Sunday.

Anderson is enjoying a fine northern hemisphere summer that saw him make Wimbledon’s last 16 as well as his first ATP final in two years‚ at the Citi Open in Washington in August.

At Wimbledon‚ Anderson lost a five-set thriller to Querrey‚ who went on to make the semi-finals.

The good friends are set for a rematch in New York on Wednesday where the American became the first male home quarterfinalist in six years.

Anderson also made the US Open quarterfinals in 2015.

"It feels great‚" said Anderson.

"Obviously getting here in this position a couple years ago was a very valuable experience. At this stage of tournaments‚ it means a lot.

“As the match went on‚ it was such a close match‚ towards the end all my focus was just getting through the match. I didn't really even think of the stage of the tournament.

“It feels great right now‚ matching my best result here. I feel like I'm playing really good tennis. My body's healthy. It was a pretty tough loss at the beginning of this year with a few injuries.

"Right now there are a few aches and pains‚ but every tennis player has that.

"I'm glad to accept that. It's the injuries where you're unable to practice and play the way that you want to.

"There's a few matches to go. I'm pretty excited about that."

On Sunday night the 28th seed advanced by beating Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-4 6-3 6-7 6-4 to setup a return date with Querrey.

The American was too good for Germany’s Micha Zverev‚ winning their clash in straight sets‚ blasting his opponent off court 6-2 6-2 6-1 in just 1hr16min.

The 2.03m tall Anderson has used his blistering serve to devastating effect during the tournament. Before Lorenzi broke his serve in the third set‚ the South African had gone 55 service games in the tournament without dropping his serve.

He also partially lost a toenail during the 2h57min match‚ but he said afterwards that it wouldn’t be a problem going into the clash against Querrey.

“I lost some of the toenail which is just from a lot of stopping and starting on the court‚” Anderson said.

“It wasn’t painful because you are out there with so such adrenalin pumping that you feel fine‚ but afterwards I battled to put a shoe on.

“But it’ll be fine. I’ll tape it up and will be good to go for the next match.”

It’s the second time in three years that Anderson is into the last eight in New York‚ and after an injury plagued 2016 the 31-year-old has never had a better shot at making the final.

Querrey has enjoyed a good season but the No 17 seed is the second-highest ranked player remaining in the bottom half of the draw.

No 1 seed‚ Rafael Nadal‚ No 3 Roger Federer‚ No 6 Dominic Thiem‚ No 9 seed David Goffin and No 24 seed and former US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro are all still in the top half of the draw.

It means that a finalist will come from either Anderson‚ Querrey‚ Spain’s No 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta or Argentina’s No 29 seed Diego Schwartzman.

It’s a great opportunity for Anderson.

“Our sport has been dominated by a small‚ select group of players for so long that it feels a bit different‚” Anderson said.

“Most other sports have multiple people contending every week‚ but we have had some of the greatest players of all time playing together for some time.

“I’ve played Sam a few times this year already. I might make a few adjustments but for the most part I’m trying to focus on my game.”