Chela through to quarters in US Open

Juan Ignacio Chela outlasted Stanislas Wawrinka in an erratic match at Flushing Meadows to reach the last eight of the US Open in New York.

The Argentinian 20th seed defeated his Swiss opponent 6-4 2-6 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-4 in three hours 41 minutes at Louis Armstrong Stadium and now awaits the winner of the all-Spanish fourth round meeting between second seed Rafael Nadal and number 15 David Ferrer.

Both Chela and Wawrinka had reached the last 16 courtesy of five-set victories and the fatigue from those encounters quickly told both committed a string of unforced errors and made a number of poor decisions.

Wawrinka, who had previously beaten Chela twice – including in the first round at last year’s US Open – had been in a commanding position to advance at 2-0 up in the fifth.

Yet it was Chela, 29, who prevailed; his greater experience and determination seeing him through this grueling match.

Chela started the game in lethargic mood as his 22-year-old opponent raced into a 4-1 lead, only for the Argentinian to hit back and level at 4-4.

It was too late to save the set but as the second got under way Chela began to bounce back.

He looked decidedly more perky than he had been and it showed in his game as he took a 5-2 lead in second and knocked Wawrinka out of his stride, the Swiss player’s error count rising steadily amid some poor shot-making.

Indeed, Chela served out to love to take the set and level the match.

In the third set, both players looked poor, with two breaks of serve each until Wawrinka at last found some consistency to twice hold at 5-4.

Unfortunately for him, the rest of his game then collapsed as he surrendered meekly to the Chela serve and the set went to a tiebreak, which the South American took to move into a 2-1 lead.

As he lost the set, Wawrinka smashed his racquet into the ground to earn a code violation but the incident seem to spark the Swiss player into form and he stormed through the fourth set with a 6-1 victory.

Both players were already looking weary, with Chela having knocked out 12th seed Ivan Ljubicic in five sets and Wawrinka taking as long to see off Robby Ginepri.

Chela was quickly in trouble in fifth set when a tired, loose forehand handed Wawrinka a double break point in the second game.

The Swiss took the second of the two on offer as Chela again sent an errant forehand outside the lines.

The see-saw nature of the contest then turned against Wawrinka once more, as he made three unforced errors to let his rival back into the match and Chela broke again for a 4-3 lead.

More mistakes from Wawrinka took Chela to the brink of victory at 5-3 up and the Swiss needed to save a match point in the next game before making the Argentine serve for the match himself.