His defending US Open Rafael Nadal finished in the most unpleasant way he played in the tournament. The injury was halted by the Spaniard on the 1/2-final against Juan Martin Del Potro at 7:6 (3), 6:2 in favor of the Argentine. Matadora felt pain at the start of the second set, which apparently influenced his game and eventually he decided that he no longer needed to stand on the court and did not start the third set at all. The first set was quite equal. Del Potro twice broke through, but Nadal immediately returned the breakthrough in the next game and did not allow the Argentine to break away. The `Tower of Tandil` even missed two setups at 5:4 and owns a serve, but instead allowed its second break and eventually came to a tiebreak.
Del Potro showed a much more stable game by contact with tennis picks and strong nerves to reach the 7:3 win, and though in the ha rd way, the set went to the Argentine`s account.
At the start of the second set, Nadal took a medical timeout, apparently having a knee problem. Still, he continued to play, but his actions on the court were not at the familiar level and Del Potro managed to win the 6:2 set with two breaks without any difficulty. This eventually led Nadal to abandon his further participation in the match and the tournament, and in fact gave up his title. Del Potro is already a finalist in the tournament, reaching this phase for the second time in his career after winning the title in New York in 2009. He expects the winner of the collision between Kei Nishikori and Novak Djokovic later in the night.
