VENUS WILLIAMS, KIM CLIJSTERS and Rafael Nadal all won their respective fourth round ties on day nine of the US Open to go through to the semi-final (women) and quarter-final (men).

Williams overcame nine double faults and beat reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. The only American
singles player left in the tournament will now face Kim Clijsters in the semi-final.

The defending champion made forty-three unforced errors during her match with fifth seed Sam Stosur, but still prevailed in her nineteenth straight US Open match 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Clijsters admitted that she wasn’t at her best: “I didn’t play a good match but I was still able to win it. Even after the match I was ‘how did I win this?’”

Rafael Nadal beat fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in their match. In the other all-Spanish clash, Fernando Verdasco recovered from two sets down to dispatch David Ferrer. The match-winning shot was around-the-post, as you can see in the below video.

Stanislas Wawrinka joins his compatriot Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, also recovering from being 2-1 down to eventually beat Sam Querrey.