US Open Tennis 2017 Results: Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson Advance to Final

Kevin Anderson defeated Pablo Carreno Busta in the first 2017 U.S. Open men's semifinal Friday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.  

Rafael Nadal, a 15-time Grand Slam champion and the top seed in the men's bracket, beat 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martin del Potro in the second semifinal. 

Below are the results and recap of Friday's singles competition. All match statistics are courtesy of the tournament's official website.

Men's Semifinal Results

(28) Kevin Anderson def. (12) Pablo Carreno Busta; 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4

(1) Rafael Nadal def. (24) Juan Martin del Potro; 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2

Day 12 Recap

Anderson Storms Back Against Carreno Busta

Anderson dropped the opening set as Carreno Busta played nearly flawless tennis, winning 84 percent of his first-serve points, recording just a single unforced error and converting a rare break-point opportunity against the big-serving South African.

The 31-year-old first-time major semifinalist took complete control from there, though. His heavy hitting proved too much for the crafty Spaniard over the final three sets as he punched a long-awaited ticket to the U.S. Open championship match Sunday.

Anderson finished the match with 22 aces and 58 winners to pull away after a highly competitive second set that could have shifted the match firmly in Carreno Busta's favor.

US Open Tennis‏ highlighted match point:

EWN Sport noted his triumph brings an end to a 33-year drought for South Africa in Grand Slam finals:

ESPN Stats & Info provided some more historical context for his appearance in the title match:

Looking ahead, Anderson will be a sizable underdog Sunday, having failed to record a victory over Nadal (0-4).

Nadal Outclasses Del Potro

In the fourth round, del Potro needed five sets to defeat Dominic Thiem. Then he dispatched Roger Federer in the quarterfinals in a four-setter that lasted nearly three hours.

All of that tennis caught up to del Potro in the semifinals, as he started strong and faded quickly against Nadal. The 2009 U.S. Open champion took the first set before Nadal kicked things into a different gear and coasted through the next three.

"Rafa just played even better the last three sets of the match, and I couldn't hit my backhand as good as I did in the beginning of the match," del Potro said, per the ATP World Tour's official site. "He played so smart from the second set until the end of the match. He was dominant. He played well. He played so smart the second set, the third and the fourth."

The U.S. Open shared a replay of a rally from the third set that highlighted how Nadal was simply the better player and withstood everything del Potro threw at him:

Nadal had 45 winners and 20 unforced errors, compared to 23 and 40, respectively, for del Potro. The 15-time Grand Slam champion also earned 13 break-point opportunities, converting on six occasions.