Spain’s David Ferrer reached his fourth Grand Slam quarter-final of this year on Tuesday when he beat Richard Gasquet 7-5, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in a rain-hit US Open last-16 tie which took over seven hours to complete.
Ferrer, the top-ranked Spaniard in New York in the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal, saw off 13th-seeded Frenchman Gasquet in two hours and 54 minutes of playing time.
But two lengthy rain delays meant the tie, which started shortly after 1.15pm local time, did not finish until just before 8.30pm.
Fourth seed Ferrer will face either Serb eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic or Philipp Kohlschreiber, the German 19th seed, for a place in the semi-finals.
“The rain made it very difficult,” said Ferrer. “But the fans have been great and I wanted to win it for them.”
The 30-year-old Ferrer took a 7-1 career lead over Gasquet into the last-16 tie, having also triumphed at the same stage at the Australian Open this year.