Del Potro pulls away from Cilic, gets to semifinals at US Open

Del Potro makes 2nd slam semi with win over Cilic

NEW YORK — The swirling winds in Arthur Ashe Stadium caused as much trouble for Juan Martin del Potro as his opponent, Marin Cilic.

Del Potro overcame them both Thursday and moved into his second Grand Slam semifinal.

The sixth-seeded Argentine overcame a sluggish first set and figured out the blustery wind inside the cavernous stadium to defeat No. 16 Marin Cilic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

“I cannot start the match like today,” Del Potro said. “I was thinking about other things, and the weather was bad. But it was bad for both players. I just need to be in focus in the beginning of the match until the last point and play my game.”

Later, the wind turned into rain and delayed No. 3 Rafael Nadal’s match against No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez, with Nadal leading 7-6 (4), 2-2. Maybe a welcome break for Nadal, who needed a medical timeout in the first set to have work done on his stomach — an injury that’s been bothering him throughout the tournament.

After a delay of about 1 hour, 15 minutes, the match resumed.

The winner will play del Potro, who was having a rough time handling Cilic’s serve in the first set, and was down a break early in the second. That’s when he figured things out and rolled off 17 of the last 20 games.

“He was not missing,” Cilic said.

Del Potro is in his second major semifinal, adding this to his trip at the French Open earlier this year, where he blew a lead and lost in five sets to Roger Federer.

In earlier action on the main court, Venus and Serena Williams advanced to their 10th Grand Slam final with a 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova.

The Williams sisters are 9-0 in their previous final appearances, though this is their first trip to the U.S. Open final since 1999.

“Hopefully, that’s a record that won’t end yet,” Serena said. “We really want this. I’m sure whoever we play really wants it, too.”

Todd Parrott and Carly Gullickson won the first trophy to be handed out this week at Flushing Meadows, in mixed doubles, upsetting defending champions Cara Black and Leander Paes, 6-2, 6-4.

Del Potro got a matchup with Cilic thanks to the Croatian’s three-set upset over No. 2 Andy Murray on Tuesday. In del Potro, Cilic saw a near mirror image of himself — 6-foot-6, big serve and they were even born five days apart in September 1988.

But Cilic’s sharpness from the Murray match vanished in this one. He committed 53 unforced errors against 29 winners, while del Potro was on his game — 24 unforced errors and 27 winners.

“Andy, he doesn’t have as much power as Del Potro has,” Cilic said. “And it was a little bit hotter that day and the ball was going through the court more and jumping much more.”

This match was played with temperatures in the mid-60s and winds that gusted at around 20 mph at times. It took some of the power out of a match that should have featured a lot.