Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne crashed the American party on Friday, beating home favourites to reach the final of the US Open.
Second seed Henin-Hardenne diced with defeat before coming back to sabotage Jennifer Capriati's Flushing Meadows dreams in a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 semi-final victory full of quality and tension.
It was in stark contrast to Clijsters's calculated 6-2, 6-3 demolition of Lindsay Davenport in their last four pairing, as the rain-hit Open staged an impromptu Friday evening session to catch up on chaotic schedules.
"I am so tired, I just gave everything I could even though I could have lost," said Henin-Hardenne, who overcame cramps in the final set to clinch the tiebreak 7-4.
She insisted she would enjoy enough rest to challenge Clijsters in Saturday night's final, when Henin-Hardenne will be aiming to add to her French Open title secured with a final victory over Clijsters in June.
For Capriati, however, the immediate future involved coming to terms with failure in the US Open semi-finals for the third time.
"It hurts," she said after storming off Arthur Ashe stadium before more than 13,000 disbelieving fans, following the battle which lasted three hours and three minutes.
"I felt my heart was being ripped out (when I lost). The match was mine and I beat myself."
In 1991, Capriati had been two points from victory against Monica Seles as a 15-year-old phenomenon, before Seles came back to complete a three-set win.
HOMETOWN HOODOO
She lost in the last four again in 2001 but, on Friday, it looked for all the world as though the three-times Grand Slam champion, a native New Yorker, would break her hometown hoodoo.
On 11 occasions, Henin-Hardenne was just two points from defeat, meaning that, on 11 occasions, Capriati was again two points from victory.
Those words will come back to haunt her when she recalls this classic, especially if a US Open final ultimately proves elusive.
Capriati even served for the match at 5-3 in the second set and 5-3 in the decider, but still fell agonisingly short.
Her anguish was clear in the tiebreak, as error after error all but gifted Henin-Hardenne an escape.
"Some losses stay with you for ever," said Capriati. "I'm only human."
Clijsters's progress was memorable only for her, for it provides her with a chance to silence critics who claim her number one world ranking is worthless without a Grand Slam title.
"There's been a lot of attention on that," said Clijsters, who usurped the injured Serena Williams as the game's best last month.
"But it doesn't bother me. And I think a lot of people forget I'm only 20 years old."
The absence of Serena and sister Venus Williams -- champions at Flushing Meadows for each of the last four years -- had always threatened to produce an all-Belgian final.
Although American television's worst nightmare, Clijsters was happy to oblige her country, outmanoeuvring the cumbersome third-seeded Davenport in just one hour three minutes.
"I think over here a lot of people don't even know where Belgium is," she said. "So this is a great way to create some attention."
Victory on Saturday will also nail suggestions that Clijsters is too "nice" to win a major.
"A lot of people have asked me that," she said.
"But when I'm on court I take all the anger out on that little fluffy thing."
