Carreno Busta is headed to the semis of the 2017 US Open following a fantastic quarterfinals win over Diego Schwartzman, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
The 25-year-old will enter the semifinals without a set loss so far in the tournament, and he’ll be buoyed up by that momentum especially in the early goings against Anderson.
As for the tangibles, Carreno Busta is looking to sustain his dependable service game that has played a key part to his run of successes of late. Over his past three matches, Carreno Busta has racked up a total of 87 winners, including 30 against Schwartzman. He’s also been doing good handling his opponents’ serves. In the quarterfinals, the Spaniard converted six of eight break point chances.
Carreno Busta was on the losing end in his past two meetings with Anderson, but it should be noted that he’s gone 7-2 in his last nine hard-court matches.
In a showdown between two power-serving players, it was Anderson who emerged victorious, beating Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (9-11), 6-3, 7-6 (9-7), to book a ticket to his first-ever Grand Slam semifinals.
Keen on making it all the way to the finals, Anderson will surely be relying on his intimidating service game that has been a big thorn in the side of his opponents. Anderson currently leads all players in the US Open with 92 aces. That includes the 22 he made Querrey eat in the quarters. In addition, Anderson is fourth among all players on the men’s side with 334 first serve points won.
Anderson is going to be a big challenge for Carreno Busta, who had to run through a phalanx of light competition in the first four rounds of the tournament. Per ESPN, Carreno Busta became the first man since 1968 to play four-straight matches against qualifiers in a Grand Slam event.
As mentioned earlier, Anderson is 2-0 in head-to-head matches against Carreno Busta. The South African last tamed Carreno Busta in the Canadian Masters last month, 6-3 7-6(6)
