Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick kept the Stars and Stripes flying high over Flushing Meadows on Friday, booking semi-final spots to stay on course for an all-American US Open final.
World number one Agassi blasted his way past a patched-up Guillermo Coria 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 to reach his ninth US Open semi-final.
In the bottom half of the draw, Roddick walloped Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the last four for the first time.
Agassi's victory over the fifth seeded Argentine earned him a shot at Juan Carlos Ferrero for a place in Sunday's final. Roddick will face David Nalbandian, another Argentinian.
"This is what it all boils down to," Agassi said. "Especially here at the Open... it's where I'm from.
"This weekend will be one heck of an opportunity for pretty special memories. I'll go out there with great excitement."
Third seed Ferrero is also smacking his lips at the prospect of Saturday's clash with top seed Agassi. "It's exciting, I am playing good tennis here in New York," the Spaniard said after beating 2001 champion Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1.
"It's gonna be a tough match because Andre is playing great... it's gonna be very tough for me playing Andre here with all the crowd supporting him."
With Agassi gathering speed as he gallops through the draw, it will indeed be tough for the French Open champion. On Friday, the Argentinian Coria was put to the sword. Suffering from a left hamstring injury and with blood pouring from a cut thumb, Coria struggled with his movement for most of the contest under blue Flushing Meadows skies.
Agassi, beaten by Coria at the Roland Garros earlier this year, clinched the match with aggressive hitting from the back and is looking forward to facing Ferrero. "I've beaten a lot of Grand Slam champions handily and I've lost to many of them," he said. "It's about what you bring to the table that day."
Roddick demolished his Dutch opponent, a semi-finalist here last year. Schalken, the 12th seed, is respected as one of the more consistent players on the tour, but he never came close to troubling the in-form 21-year-old American.
Even one unexpected blip, when Schalken broke serve to trail 5-4 in the first set, was quickly corrected, for Roddick immediately broke again to take the set.
Achieved in just one hour 25 minutes, it was Roddick's 17th consecutive win and sets up a semi-final match with Nalbandian.
"I'm definitely going to take a holiday after this tournament," Roddick laughed. "But it ain't over yet."
Nalbandian ended the colourful run of Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui with a 7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win.
Nalbandian had knocked Wimbledon champion Roger Federer out in the last round and proved too strong for the Moroccan.
