David Ferrer earned a spot in his second career U.S. Open semifinal on Thursday, outlasting Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
The fourth-seed battled back from a 4-1 deficit in the fifth set to win in a match that took 4 hours and 31 minutes to complete.
"I don't have words," said Ferrer to the Associated Press. "It was a very emotional match."
Ferrer entered with a 2-1 career record in matches against Tipsarevic and the two last met in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.
Ferrer started off the match with sloppy play, dropping the first two games to Tipsarevic. The Spanish star then reeled off five straight games to take a 5-2 lead. Ferrer served out the set and took it 6-3, although he had more unforced errors than Tipsarevic.
In the second set the two players traded games back and forth, including a love game for Ferrer that tied it at 2-2. In the tiebreak Tipsarevic had three set points before slamming a forehand to even up the match.
The third set found Ferrer struggling with his serve, including a double fault that put Tipsarevic up 5-2 to have a chance to close out the set. As Tipsarevic was serving Ferrer called for a medical timeout to deal with some issues with his toes. Tipsarevic waited patiently while the trainer cut Ferrer's toenails.
"I had a problem with my toes, my nail," Ferrer said according to ESPN.com.
Tipsarevic was able to serve out the set and took a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth. He had 18 winners in the set and broke Ferrer twice. Late in the fourth set Tipsarevic took his own medical timeout, although Ferrer was able to serve out the set easily to force a decisive fifth frame.
Tipsarevic was off to a dominating start, up 4-1, when he slipped while trying to change directions to return a shot and fell sharply onto the hardcourt surface. He slammed his hip into the ground and lost control of his racket as he fell.
Although he seemed as if he was ok and continued to play, it was a turning point in the set and the match. He lost the game and then was broken by Ferrer to go to 4-4.
Following the game Tipsarevic took a medical timeout and later held serve to get to 6-6 and another tiebreaker. After going up 6-4, Ferrer hit a dominating return that Tipsarevic put back into the net to finish the match. And
Ferrer improved his record to 17-9 in five-set matches and will take on Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. He also reached the French Open semifinals at the French Open in June.
"David is a fighter. He is one of the biggest competitors we have in the game. People ... overlook him," Djokovic said. "You need to earn your points against him."
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