Anderson on cusp of US Open final

South Africa's Kevin Anderson's progression to the semifinals of the US Open has come relatively late in a career hampered by injury, but was always full of promise

Anderson will face Spain's No12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta for a place in Sunday's final at Flushing Meadows in New York.

Five top-10 players withdrew from this year's US open, including Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic.

"We're so used to the same guys being there, and they have had such unbelievable consistency," said Anderson after beating America's last male hope Sam Querrey 7-6(5) 6-7(9) 6-3 7-6(7) in the quarterfinals.

"It gave some of the guys an opportunity, you know, to go deep into the tournament.

"I'm going to enjoy the next couple of days and refocus for my next match. I'm still in this tournament and I want to go one further."

Anderson, 31, is built for power on the court with his 2.03m frame able to send down a barrage of aces and unplayable serves. But last year his body was breaking down.

From a career high singles rank of No10 soon after making the US Open quarterfinals in 2015, Anderson struggled through a series of knee, ankle and shoulder injuries last year that saw him slide down to 79 in the rankings by March this year.

But he has put that behind him and he has played some of the best tennis of a career that has brought three ATP singles titles and nearly $9-million (about R114-million) in prize money. He went into the US Open ranked No 32 in the world and 28th for the tournament.

In New York, he stands the chance of becoming the first South African since Kevin Curren at Wimbledon in 1985 to make a grand slam final.