RAFA Nadal was not so much knocked out of the US Open as knocked down.

The Spaniard could be forgiven for asking after this bruising collision: “Did anyone get his number?” Juan Martin Del Potro was a juggernaut 
yesterday. Nadal was his bedraggled roadkill. This was the worst defeat for the 
Spaniard in his grand slam career. Del Potro’s 6-2-, 6-2, 6-2 victory in two hours 20 
minutes did not flatter the giant Argentine.

He brushed off everything that the 23-year-old Majorcan could throw at him, returning Nadal’s ground strokes with an enhanced power and refusing to bend to any 
self-imposed doubts.

This was a career-defining victory for Del Potro. He showed at Roland Garros that he had the game to take Roger Federer to the very limit. Yesterday, though, he reached his first grand slam final with a combination of mental, physical and technical excellence.

He broke Nadal early in all three sets and as the Spaniard danced in front of his headlights, the 20-year-old from Tandil simply stepped on the gas.

His forehand was a stroke of extraordinary venom but Del Potro made it more potent by the way he 
created angles by moving Nadal around the court. His serve provided six 
valuable aces at crucial moments in the match and regularly forced Nadal on the defensive. Del Potro, too, refused to be unnerved by the unrelenting Nadal will to win. Whenever there was the hint of crisis, Del Potro held firm. Nadal had five break points and could not convert one of them. The Spaniard’s serve, never frightening on hard courts, was extremely vulnerable. His second serve was, frankly, plundered by Del Potro. The world No.6, soon to be No.5, had 16 break points in three sets.

This, then, was a coming of age for the Argentine, who is beginning to frank his 
promise with achievement. It left Nadal, again, as a 
victim at the US Open. He has never won the title at Flushing Meadows. His best performance has been to reach the semi-finals where he has been beaten by Andy Murray and now Del Potro.

There are reasons for this that stretch beyond tiredness or even injury. Nadal has 
certainly been suffering from an abdominal strain but both Murray and Del Potro have shown that the Spaniard’s game can be unravelled on a quick surface with a low bounce.

Nadal, too, played the ball short to Del Potro yesterday. This had 

predictable consequences. It was like standing in the fast lane of a motorway and 
beckoning a fully-laden 
articulated lorry.

“It was very difficult,” said Nadal who has now been beaten on three consecutive occasions by Del Potro. “He played very well, much better than me. I had a lot of chances to keep the score more tight.”

The Spaniard did not take them. He hinted that his stomach strain had 
compromised the power of his serve. This was all too evident to the most casual observer. However, Nadal stressed: “First thing, he played much better. It sounds an excuse to talk about injury.”

But he admitted it was not his “lucky year” with injury to his knees ruling him out of a defence of his Wimbledon title and the stomach strain impacting on his ability to improve on his record for Flushing Meadows. It could be a significant year for Del Potro. He has come back from long-term injury to make significant progress with his game. His serve, of course, is the most visible improvement but there is a confidence, even a maturity about the 20-year-old. “It is part of my dream. I am very close to do it,” he said of his debut appearance in a grand slam final, significantly at his favourite tournament. “I have the game to win,” he said, stating the obvious.

But Del Potro also made his own luck. He came up with a game plan and it prospered in tandem with his technical excellence.

“When I first saw this 
stadium,” said del Potro yesterday, “I said: ‘This will be my favourite tournament’.”

The fulfilment of this 
prophesy now lies just one match away.