Roger Federer lost a rare set to Robin Soderling but continued his unbeaten streak against the Swede to march into a US Open semi-final against fourth seed Novak Djokovic.
Five-time defending champion Federer had taken an 11-0 career record over 12th seed Soderling into this night match, their most recent two meetings coming at Wimbledon and in the French Open final.
The world number one made it a round dozen in victories over the Swede, reaching the last four of a grand slam for the 22nd consecutive time and extending his unbeaten run at Flushing Meadows to 39 matches, Djokovic having earlier beaten 10th seed Verdasco.
It was not achieved without a fight, however, Soderling looking down and out after two one-sided sets but then making Federer work for the 6-0 6-3 6-7 (6-8 ) 7-6 (8-6) victory in two hours 33 minutes.
After being rolled over in a 27-minute first set, Soderling finally got on the scoreboard by holding serve in the opening game of the second.
He saved two break points in the third game and had to do so again to stay in the set at 3-2, only for Federer to finally make the breakthrough for a 4-2 lead.
It really did look too easy for Federer as his opponent struggled with both his opponent and the gusting conditions.
It was if the wind was not blowing at all on Federer's side of the court and he won the next game to love, securing a 5-2 lead with a deft backhand drop half-volley.
The frustrating evening got too much for Soderling as he hurled his racquet to the ground after conceding another break point, smashing it in the process but serving an ace in the next point with the replacement on the way to a much-needed hold.
Yet there was no stopping Federer on serve and he wrapped up the second set with the match clock showing just 59 minutes.
As if the task facing Soderling was not daunting enough, Federer had not lost a two-set lead in 147 matches.
Yet the Swede made a fight of it in the third set, earning a rare double break point at 3-2 up.
Federer served his way out of trouble but let his opponent back in with a netted backhand drop shot.
He made amends with aces 16 and 17 of the match and the world number one was level at 3-3.
Soderling hung in there, though, and having held to move to 5-4, Federer was serving to save the set.
A missed overhead put the Swede in front at 0-15 before Federer resumed his dominance and won the next four points, levelling the set at 5-5 with an ace.
Soderling again held serve, Federer won his game to love and the third set went to a tie-break.
The defending champion quickly moved to 4-0 in the breaker, only for Soderling to suddenly came alive, getting back to 5-5.
And when Federer scooped a forehand off the floor on the baseline into the net, Soderling remarkably had a set point.
Federer, though, rescued the situation at the net but Soderling came back again, unleashing a beast of a forehand to gain a second set point, this time on Federer's serve.
For once Federer was being given the run around never quite recovering from a great Soderling return and eventually sending a forehand long from the back court as the match went into a fourth set.
It was only the second set Soderling had won in 29 sets of tennis with Federer and from looking a comfortable winner, the world number one suddenly had a fight on his hands.
Soderling was not going away and he held his game together sufficiently to take the fourth set into a tie-break.
And still he was not finished, getting to set point at 6-5 with two monster serves, the first an ace.
Federer was not looking best pleased but he was gifted match point when Soderling pushed a backhand into the tramlines and another wide one, this time a forehand, gave the world number one the victory he should have claimed much earlier in the evening.
Djokovic was delighted to have reached the US Open semi-finals for the third year in a row as he moved past 10th seed Fernando Verdasco in four sets, particularly as it was his first grand slam semi of 2009.
The fourth seed from Serbia beat his Spanish rival 7-6 (7-2) 1-6 7-5 6-2 on Ashe during the day session and will play Federer for the third year in a row at the final grand slam of the season.
Djokovic had reached his first grand slam final in 2007 before going down in straight sets to Federer, while the pair met in last year's semi-finals in New York, with the Swiss star needing four sets to beat the young pretender.
‘It feels great,’ Djokovic said of his achievement. ‘I haven't done that in the past three grand slams this year, so mentally it was very important for me to overcome today's challenge and to be able to win quarter-finals and to get to the semi-finals for the first time in the grand slams in 2009.’
Speaking before the Federer-Soderling match, Djokovic spoke about the possibility of facing the world number one again on Saturday.
‘If I play with Roger, we don't need to talk a lot about him: his records in the US Open, we all know his style of the game.
‘I have been playing against him many, many times and a lot of different kind of surfaces. There are no secrets in each other's game, so it's a matter of having a good day.
‘I hope I can have a good day and concentrate, and physically I'm going to have enough time to recover and be ready.’
