US Open Tennis 2018: Men's Semifinal TV Schedule, Start Times and Picks

Rafael Nadal meets Juan Martin del Potro before Novak Djokovic takes on Kei Nishikori in the men's semi-finals at the 2018 U.S. Open on Friday.

A final between 2017 champion Nadal and two-time winner Djokovic looks likely, despite both Del Potro and Nishikori producing notable results en route to the last four.

Del Potro booked his place in the semi-final by seeing off John Isner after dropping the first set. Meanwhile, Nishikori needed five sets to outlast Marin Cilic.

Coverage on Friday begins at 4 p.m. ET for U.S. audiences and 9 p.m. in the UK.

ESPN will broadcast matches in the U.S., while UK viewers can watch on Amazon Prime (subscription required). The tournament's official website has a full breakdown of television coverage for Friday.

Nadal to Overcome Fatigue and Edge Through

Fatigue could be a factor for Nadal against an opponent three years his junior. Not only does Del Potro have youth on his side, he's also "spent four hours less on court during [the last three matches] - during which time Nadal has covered 44,809 feet to Del Potro's 23,378," according to Charlie Eccleshare of the Daily Telegraph.

Adam Hunger/Associated Press

Nadal's latest lengthy excursion on court involved going to a fifth set against Dominic Thiem in the last eight. The last two sets needed to be settled by tiebreaks, further taxing the Spaniard.

Even so, former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero believes "normally Rafa is better in the longer matches," per Eccleshare.

Nadal's experience will also show in his knowledge of Del Potro, who has become a familiar opponent in recent years. They have faced off 17 times, including in four of the last five Grand Slams, per Tennis.com.

The same source offers proof Del Potro can make this a close one from him being "an even 5-5 against Nadal on hard courts, though, and has nine career wins over No. 1s."

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However, Nadal is 11-5 in the overall series, including winning the last three, per the ATP official website. Among those victories is a win at this stage of last year's US Open, where Nadal overcame losing the first set to reel off the next three.

Expect the defending champion to have enough guile and energy reserves to again overcome Del Potro in one more typically close contest.

Djokovic Set for Comfortable Win

While Nishikori was pushed to the brink by Cilic, Djokovic eased through the gears during his quarter-final win over John Millman. The Serb won in straight sets while looking ominously like the Djokovic of old.

He may be getting back to his best, but Djokovic isn't overlooking Nishikori, identifying one particular shot as a concern, per Mikael McKenzie of the Daily Express: "He’s got one of the best two-handed backhands in the game and very quick. If not the quickest, then one of the quickest players on the tour."

However, Djokovic can take confidence from his overall dominance against Nishikori:

If there's reason to believe for Nishikori, it will come from him beating Djokovic at the same stage of the 2014 Open. The problem is Djokovic has generally dominated Nishikori on hard courts, winning seven out of nine meetings on the surface, according to Dzevad Mesic of Tennis World USA.

Djokovic also overcame Nishikori in their last match, winning at the quarter-final stage of Wimbledon earlier this year. On current form, Djokovic is too strong to lose this close to another grand slam final.