Roger Federer avenged his Wimbledon defeat with a 6-4 6-3 6-3 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to set up a semi-final rematch with
Novak Djokovic at the US Open.
Tsonga had come from two sets down to beat Federer in the last eight at the All England Club earlier this year, the only player to manage such a feat at a grand slam, but in truth a repeat never looked on the cards in the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
A rain interruption, the first of the day, briefly held up the third seed's charge but he did not allow Tsonga to take charge in the match and in the end it was a comfortable victory.
The players came out as scheduled but after only five games the rain returned to Flushing Meadows. It looked like they may have to come back during the day on Friday but eventually the sky cleared and the court was dried.
There had been enough time for Federer to break the Tsonga serve but he promptly gave away his advantage on the resumption. However, the 11th seed was broken again for 5-4 when he netted a volley and that was enough for Federer to take the first set.
Tsonga had also beaten the 16-time grand slam champion in their most recent meeting in Montreal last month but Federer was relentless in his attacking, not allowing his opponent to get into a rhythm on his huge groundstrokes.
In the second set the Swiss moved two breaks ahead but Tsonga responded by retrieving one immediately and at last he was pushing Federer. The 30-year-old stood firm, though, and another break gave him the set.
He would still have been wary, of course, given his Wimbledon experience, and Tsonga forced a break point in the fifth game of the third set but he could not take it.
Federer was serving superbly, much to the frustration of his opponent, and once again it was Tsonga who cracked in the eighth game.
Three huge forehands took Federer to 15-40 but twice he missed his chance and on a third break point the Frenchman came up with an ace. But he followed up with a simple volley into the net and a double fault sealed his fate.
Federer's victory means he will play Djokovic in the last four for the second year in succession, with the Serb saving match points to triumph 12 months ago before losing in the final to Rafael Nadal.
Federer weighed into the debate about the scheduling at the US Open by calling on the tournament to play the first round over only two days and scrap 'Super Saturday', which sees the men's semi-finals and women's final played on the same day.
The backlog caused by rain has prompted organisers to put back the men's final to Monday for the fourth successive year, and Federer believes lessons should be learned.
Of the delayed final, he said: "For me, I guess at the end of the day it wouldn't have mattered that much. But, out of fairness to the bottom half of the draw, I think it's definitely the right thing to do.
"The problem lies elsewhere, though. This is the fourth year in a row I think we're playing a Monday final. Might as well just make it a Monday final. Or you have to change up a few things.
"I think the three (day) first round is not working, and then the Super Saturday I just think is not feasible.
"I don't think TV should dictate just to have the finals on Sunday and the semis on Saturday and not have the true champion hold the trophy up. I just don't think that's the goal here."
Federer conceded the Wimbledon match did cross his mind but felt it was his defeat by Tsonga in Montreal that was a bigger catalyst for the victory.
"There were little flashbacks," he said. "Today I felt I took the right decisions out of the matches we had in Wimbledon, and especially in Montreal, where I was very unhappy with my game. I think the Montreal match was key for me winning this match."
Tsonga was disappointed with his own performance but believes Federer is very much a contender to win the title.
The Frenchman said: "Every time when he loses everybody says Roger is finished. But, for me, he's still the same player. He is very good. When the confidence is here for him, it's for everybody to play against him."
