Wawrinka into the last eight at US Open

New York - French Open champion Stan Wawrinka defeated US comeback king Donald Young 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 Monday to reach the US Open quarter-finals.

Swiss fifth seed Wawrinka will next face the winner of a later match between British third seed Murray and South African 15th seed Kevin Anderson.

Wawrinka dropped his first set of the tournament but made an eighth quarter-final in his past nine Grand Slams, denying 68th-ranked Young his first trip to a Slam quarter-final.

"The set was so quick. I wasn't there mentally," Wawrinka said of his second-set letdown.

"Calmed down a little bit. I began to be more aggressive, started moving my feet better."

Young was the first player since Gilles Muller in 2008 to rally twice from two sets down in a US Open, having been 0-17 in such sets before this week, but the lefthander fell to 3-18 against top-10 opponents.

"He had the crowd. It was a tough match for sure," Wawrinka said. "It was a great atmosphere."

Wawrinka improved to 2-1 in the rivalry with Young, who upset the Swiss in a fifth-set tie-breaker at the 2011 US Open and Wawrinka beating him six weeks later at Shanghai.

Wawrinka, 30, smacked a backhand service return winner to break Young for a 2-1 edge and denied the American's only break chance of the first set with a forehand winner in the fourth game.

Young, 26, had lost the first set in every prior match, too, and he bounced back again as Wawrinka netted forehands to surrender breaks in the fourth and sixth games, smashing his racquet to the cement at one stage in frustration.

"Sometimes you don't control yourself. You need to put the pressure out," Wawrinka said. "I played really well after."

Wawrinka raced ahead 5-0 in the third set. Young battled back to 5-3, but Wawrinka then held on a stunning running backhand winner to finally take the set.

He broke Young to open the fourth set and held serve to the end, which came after two hours and nine minutes.