Rafael Nadal's hard court hardship went on as the Spaniard suffered a fourth-set collapse against Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the quarter-finals.
Nadal saw his men's singles title ambitions disappear as a finely balanced match at the Louis Armstrong Stadium turned into a rout.
Youzhny advanced to his first career Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 victory.
The loss ended the possibility of another Grand Slam final meeting between Nadal and rival Roger Federer, the top-ranked player in the world.
Andy Roddick cruised to a 6-3 7-5 6-4 over 15th-seed Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets.
Meanwhile, Tuesday's inclement weather gave Andy Murray time to regroup, but he could not take advantage in his rain delayed fourth-round match.
Trailing two sets to one to Nikolay Davydenko when the skies opened on Tuesday, Murray came out flat on Wednesday morning at Armstrong.
He was broken in his first service game and never recovered as he fell to the seventh-seeded Russian, 6-1 5-7 6-3 6-0 in the fourth-round encounter.
Davydenko will next meet German Tommy Haas, who outlasted Marat Safin of Russia in another rain-suspended match, 4-6 6-3 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-5).
Safin erased a mini-break and forged a 5-5 tie in the final-set tiebreaker with a crosscourt forehand winner past Haas at the net.
Haas countered with a service winner before Safin sent a backhand long on match point.
In another fourth-round clash delayed by the weather, Federer defeated unseeded Frenchman Marc Gicquel, 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.
The two-time defending champion, Federer saved two break points in the seventh game of the third set, then broke Gicquel at love before losing just one point on serve to close out the match.
Federer next will face fifth-seeded American James Blake, who routed 12th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, 6-4 6-3 6-1.
Unfortunately for Blake, he has yet to win even a set in four matches against the world's top player, including a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 dismissal in the US Open third round in 2003.
