Tennis: David Ferrer booked his place in the US Open semi-finals with a 6-2 6-3 7-5 win over Juan Ignacio Chela.
The 15th seed, conqueror of fellow Spaniard and second seed Rafael Nadal in the previous round, was always in control against his Argentinian opponent.
Chela came into the match following two tough five-set victories in the preceding rounds, beating 12th seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the third round and outlasting Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in another five-set marathon on Tuesday.
Ferrer, too, had needed all his energy to first defeat David Nalbandian and then wear down Nadal - both men had been on court for more than 11 hours at Flushing Meadows to reach the last eight.
But it was fellow clay court specialist and baseline slugger Chela for whom this was a match too far.
Ferrer quickly took control of the opening set as the two players traded powerful ground strokes in long rallies typical of matches on clay.
The Spaniard broke Chela's serve early and did so again to take the first set 6-2 before gaining the upper hand in the second set by breaking the Argentinian in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead.
There was no questioning Chela's commitment and effort and he made Ferrer fight hard for the second set, saving set points on his serve in a lengthy eighth game he rescued at 2-5 down.
There was nothing he could do, though, as Ferrer served out in the next game to take a 2-0 lead after an hour and 15 minutes.
Chela, though, was not going quietly out of these championships and having served strongly to take the opening game of the third set, he broke serve in the next game just as Ferrer was looking to kill the match off.
Unfortunately for Chela, Ferrer hit straight back to get back on serve at 2-1.
The Argentinian dug in from there to frustrate the 15th seed but eventually cracked in the 11th game when a weak backhand into the net handed Ferrer the all-important break.
Ferrer served for the match at 6-5 and did not hang about in killing it off. He gave himself three match points before delivering an ace on his second serve to reach his first grand slam semi-final.