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Cape Town - Following his US Open quarter-final defeat to Stan Wawrinka, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson has acknowledged that nerves may have gotten the better of him.
Playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final, Anderson was routed 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 by the French Open champion in just 107 minutes.
The result dashed 29-year-old Anderson's hopes of becoming the first South African in the semi-finals in New York since Johan Kriek in 1980.
“It was really tough out there. (I) was maybe a little bit nervous starting out, just with the occasion and a lot of waiting around, switching courts,” Anderson said during his post-match press conference.
The match was moved from the main Arthur Ashe Stadium to Louis Armstrong Stadium because of worries over rain forecast for the evening.
“It’s obviously something that you deal with, but just getting out there, everything seemed to be going pretty quickly. I felt conditions were quite quick and alive, especially compared to my last match out there.”
Anderson had beaten Wawrinka the last four times they have played, but he was out of sorts on Wednesday, committing 42 unforced errors compared to only 25 winners.
He also only carved out one break point opportunity, which the Swiss quickly shut out.
It was nevertheless a satisfied tournament for Anderson, who reached this stage of a major for the first time, having stumbled at the Round of 16 stage on seven prior attempts.
Wawrinka will now face compatriot and 17-times Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals.
Federer was in scintillating form out on Ashe Stadium, demolishing Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
Federer boasts a 16-3 winning head-to-head record against his friend, but Wawrinka won their last meeting in the French Open quarter-finals.
US Open results on Wednesday, the 10th day of the 2015 tournament at Flushing Meadows (x denotes seeded player):
Men's singles
Quarter-finals
Stan Wawrinka (SUI x5) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA x15) 6-4, 6-4, 6-0
Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Richard Gasquet (FRA x12) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
Women's singles
Quarter-finals
Flavia Pennetta (ITA x26) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE x5) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
Simona Halep (ROM x2) bt Victoria Azarenka (BLR x20) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Men's doubles
Quarter-finals
Dominic Inglot/Robert Lindstedt (GBR/SWE) bt Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea (IND/ROM x6) 7-6 (7/2), 6-3
Steve Johnson/Sam Querrey (USA/USA) bt Leonardo Mayer/Joao Sousa (POR) 6-3, 6-4
Women's doubles
Semi-finals
Martina Hingis/Sania Mirza (SUI/IND x1) bt Sara Errani/Flavia Pennetta (ITA/ITA x11) 6-4, 6-1
Quarter-finals
Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Coco Vandeweghe (GER/USA) bt Caroline Garcia/Katarina Srebotnik (FRA/SLO x5) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5
Casey Dellacqua/Yaroslava Shvedova (AUS/KAZ x4) bt Alla Kudryavtseva/Anatasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS/RUS x12) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
Mixed doubles
Semi-finals
Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Sam Querrey (USA) bt Andrea Hlavackova/Lukasz Kubot (POL) 6-4, 6-3
Martina Hingis/Leander Paes (SUI/IND x4) bt Yung-Jan Chan/Rohan Bopanna (TPE/IND x2) 6-2, 7-5
