NEW YORK -- The research chart -- the cold, hard facts -- all but guaranteed the imminent demise of Kei Nishikori:
All four previous players who completed their US Open match wins after 2 a.m. lost the next one. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mats Wilander, Younes El Aynaoui and Rafael Nadal all succumbed after their late-night heroics. In fact, they won a collective two sets of the 14 contested.
How was Nishikori -- who had a five-minute injury timeout to get a blistered foot cleaned up in his five-set marathon win over Milos Raonic -- going to recover after finishing at 2:26 a.m. Tuesday? Nishikori is a guy who has been famously fragile. He has already retired from 12 matches and granted two walkovers in his young career; he bailed from a Miami semifinals match against Novak Djkovic citing a sore groin.
He started with an ice bath followed by a 3:15 a.m. press conference and was back to the hotel after 4 a.m. After sleeping for 7½ hours -- until 1 p.m. -- he was back on the court practicing at 3:15 p.m., less than 13 hours after the Raonic match ended.
Sure enough, No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka put the hammer down early and won the first set over a sluggish Nishikori. He ended it with an emphatic 118 mph ace down the middle.
But then something curious happened. Actually, Nishikori happened. He reached deep and came up with a marvelously satisfying 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 6-7(5), 6-4 victory. This one went 4 hours, 15 minutes, but it felt like half a day.
"I feel amazing, especially playing well in my favorite Grand Slam," Nishikori said in his on-court interview. "I have a good memory. I hope I can recover again and play 100 percent in the next round. I don't know how I finished the game, but I'm very happy."
Nishikori advances to the first Grand Slam semifinal of his 24-year-old life and is now the first Japanese man in 96 years to make the semis of the US Open.
After Nishikori leveled the match by winning the second set, he and Wawrinka constructed a brilliant third. Nishikori led 5-2 and 3-1 in the tiebreaker, but it came down to a dramatic 16-point extra session. After some spectacular passing shots, Nishikori stood in and watched Wawrinka miss two backhands to hand him the set.
After Wawrinka rallied to win the fourth set, Nishikori forged two match points with Wawrinka serving at 4-5. On the second, Wawrinka hit a nervous forehand into the net, and Nishikori looked stunned. His muted response contrasted the ecstatic celebration of his coach, Michael Chang, in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
No. 2 men's doubles seeds ousted
There was some long-range good news for Bob and Mike Bryan, who contest their semifinal doubles match Thursday against the American team of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram. The No. 2-seeded team of Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares is out of the tournament.
Peya and Soares fell to the No. 11-seeded team from Spain, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, 7-6 (3), 6-4. Granollers and Lopez will meet the No. 4 seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, who defeated the unseeded team of Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer in three sets.
The Bryan Brothers, both 36, are trying to win their 100th career title. They hit No. 99 a few weeks ago in Cincinnati. They have not won a Grand Slam doubles title since the past year's Wimbledon. They were on schedule to potentially meet Peya and Soares in the final.
Windy City Blues
Taylor Townsend, 18, and Donald Young, 25, both lost in the first round of the main draw but made a nice run in the mixed doubles tournament.
The Chicago-born partners won their first three matches, including a surprise straight-sets victory over No. 2 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Alexander Peya. On Wednesday, however, they finally ran into a better team in the semifinals.
The United States' Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico beat Townsend and Young 6-3, 6-4 in a scant 63 minutes.
Townsend, ranked No. 108 among WTA players, lost to No. 1 seed Serena Williams in the first round here. She qualified this past month in Cincinnati and won her first-round match. Young, ranked 47 on the ATP World Tour, fell to Blaz Kavcic in the first round.
Et cetera
Tornado Alicia Black -- her younger sister is named Hurricane Tyra -- is into the third round of the girls' junior event. Black, the 16-year-old No. 4 seed who hails from Boca Raton, Florida, defeated Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. She was a finalist here last year in the junior tournament and lost to Ana Konjuh of Croatia in three sets. Next up: qualifier Vera Lapko of Belarus.
The No. 4 seed in the boys draw, American Stefan Kozlov, is also through to the third round after he beat Brazil's Rafael Matos, 7-6 (2), 6-4. Kozlov, also 16, lost to fellow American Noah Rubin in the Wimbledon junior final. He plays Seong-chan Hong of Korea for a berth in the quarterfinals.
Alex Rybakov (USA) defeated Quentin Halys, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. America's Caroline Dolehide handled Nadia Podoroska of Argentina, 6-3, 6-2.
Catherine "CiCi" Bellis and Marketa Vondrousova, the No. 1 seed in the girls' junior doubles draw, defeated Anna Bondar and Dalma Galfi of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (3).