Defending champion Rafael Nadal crushed 29-year-old Andy Roddick on Friday, setting up a quarterfinal clash against World No. 4 Andy Murray as the Scottish eliminated another American John Isner.

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball during the quarterfinal of men's singles against Andy Roddick of the United States at the US Open tennis championships in New York, the United States, Sept. 9, 2011. Rafael Nadal won with 6-2, 6-1, 6-3. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)
Considering the other two players having advanced into last four on Thursday are top seed Novak Djokovic and third seed Swiss Roger Federer, it will be for the second time this year, the top four seeded men have advanced to the semifinals at a Grand Slam event as it also happened at the French Open.

"It seems like top four players are doing well. That's the thing. Top four are very solid here. The previous years too, my opinion," said Nadal.

"For last few years top four players are very solid in almost every tournament. That's difficult to to see that in the past because that's very difficult. Tennis is a very competitive sport, so I think is very good news for tennis.

"We have a little bit this extra advantage, and we are doing well. I think the rest of the players feel that they can win, too, but that did not happen this year."

Andy Roddick of the United States returns the ball during the quarterfinal of men's singles against Rafael Nadal of Spain at the US Open tennis championships in New York, the United States, Sept. 9, 2011. Rafael Nadal won with 6-2, 6-1, 6-3. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)
The second-seeded Nadal met little resistance from the top American player as the Spaniard converted six of seven break points to beat Roddick, who won the 2003 Open title, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 through a quick 1 hour, 53 minutes.

Nadal will play fourth-seeded Murray on Saturday in the second semifinal after top-seeded Novak Djokovic meets third-seeded Roger Federer.

Djokovic is 62-2 with nine titles in 2011, including at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. His first loss this season came when Federer ended Djokovic's 43-match winning streak in a thrilling French Open semifinal. His second came from the Cincinnati Masters final as the Serb retired trailing 6-4, 3-0 against Murray quoting shoulder injury.

Roddick never broke his opponent and committed 25 unforced errors, 12 more than the Spaniard. The 25-year-old Nadal played more aggressive tennis, hitting 35 winners, overwhelming Roddick's 15.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet