This swiss does not miss

Wawrinkas semifinal opponent will be top seed Novak Djokovic,who overcame a third-set wobble with an authoritative final frame to beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-3,6-2,3-6,6-0.

It is the 14th consecutive Grand Slam tournament in which Djokovic has made it to the semifinals. Roger Federer holds the record with 23.

The other semifinal is Rafael Nadal against Richard Gasquet.

Murrays managed only 15 winners,30 fewer than Wawrinka. He tapped in some very slow second serves which allowed the Swiss to hit four return winners and easily take control of countless other points. Murray,one of the sports top returners,never earned a single break point.

I have had a good run the last couple of years, Murray said. Its a shame I had to play a bad match today.

I didnt get into enough return games,which is disappointing for me. Thats normally something I do pretty well. I always give myself opportunities to break serve,and I didnt today.

At age 28,Wawrinka finally made it further at a major tournament than his Swiss Olympic teammate and good friend Federer,who lost in the fourth round and sent a congratulatory text to Wawrinka after his breakthrough victory.

Today,for sure,its my moment, Wawrinka said.

Asked what part of his performance made him the most proud,Wawrinka said: How I was dealing with the pressure. Normally,I can be a little bit nervous and I can lose a few games because of that.

Murray was frustrated at his own errors in the 22-point final game of the first set,with muttering,eye-rolling and slaps to the forehead eventually giving way to some unbridled racket abuse.

Rude awakening

The second set slipped away even faster,with Murray hanging his head after a forehand into the net closed a 12-point and three-game run for Wawrinka that made it 5-2.

At the end of that second set,he shook his hands in front of his face and screamed,infuriated by his own errors and inability to match what he perceives is unrealistically high expectations.

If Im meant to win every Grand Slam I play or be in the final,its just very,very difficult just now, said Murray. With the guys around us,its very challenging.

Relentless Serb

Djokovic used his typical relentless defense to reach the U.S. Open semifinals for the seventh year in a row.

Level of confidence is right at the top,very close,because I have been playing most of my matches here very aggressive,very dominantly, Djokovic said. Even though I dropped a set,I feel I was in control.

He won the first 14 sets he played these two weeks,taking under two hours to advance each time. But he faltered against Youzhny in the third,making 16 unforced errors and getting broken twice _ the only service games Djokovic lost in the match.

After I lost the third set,I definitely tried to regroup and focus on every point individually and start playing the same game that I had in first two sets, Djokovic said.

The Serb broke at the first opportunity in the fourth set and was untroubled from there.

Djokovic saved the first seven break points he faced,displaying his trademark ability to get his racket to balls he has no right to,and somehow turn such points around.

Every point,you have to play. He never misses, Youzhny said. He never gives you some presents.

Djokovic has won 12 of 14 tour matches against Wawrinka,including the past 11. The most recent came at Januarys Australian Open,when Djokovic edged Wawrinka 12-10 in a fifth set en route to the championship.

Definitely one of the most exciting matches I have played in my life on this surface, Djokovic said.

The womens semifinals began late on Friday night,with No. 1 Serena Williams taking on No. 5 Li Na,and No. 2 Victoria Azarenka going up against unseeded Flavia Pennetta.

After Mirza falls in doubles semis,Paes last Indian standing at US Open

New York: Sania Mirzas US Open campaign ended with a tame semifinal defeat in the womens doubles with partner Jie Zheng against Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua. The 10th seeded Indo-Chinese pair,which came into the US Open with New Haven title,lost 2-6 2-6 in an hour and five minutes to the Australian eight seeds. Sania and Zheng struggled to hold their serves as they were broken thrice in both the sets.

Sania had bowed out of the mixed doubles with Romanian partner Horia Tecau. They had lost to American Liezel Huber and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.

None of the three Indians could clear the first round hurdle in the mixed doubles first round. Rohan Bopanna lost his opening round with Germanys Julia Goerges while Mahesh Bhupathi and Martina Hingis also had similar disappointment. But all is not lost on the Indian front,as Leander Paes and his doubles partner Radek Stepanek pulled off a fantastic win over the Bryan twins to enter the mens doubles final.

Bob and Mike Bryan fell short in their bid to capture a calendar-year grand slam when they lost to Czech Radek Stepanek and Indias Leander Paes in the mens doubles semi-finals.

The top-seeded brothers,who won this years Australian Open,French Open and Wimbledon mens doubles titles,fell 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Were very disappointed, said Bob Bryan. We hate to lose and we knew what was riding on this match and the opportunity of what we could have accomplished.

The Bryans were hoping to become the first pairing to complete the calendar slam since Australias Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman in 1951. PTI/Agencies