For Rafael Nadal, what could have been a disastrous day-and-a-half delay of his US Open quarter-final match against Fernando González of Chile quickly turned into the best result possible on Saturday afternoon. González dissolved in a puddle of errors and Nadal expended less energy than he would have in a practice in polishing off his 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2) 6-0 victory. The third set lasted all of 31 minutes.

Right after, just as the players came on for the men’s doubles final, rain restarted, forcing another delay.

The quarter-final had been called off on Thursday night with Nadal leading 3-2 in the second-set tiebreaker. But Nadal showed no signs of being bothered by the delay, or the cool weather, while González quickly seemed bothered by everything and came unglued. He made four straight errors to lose the tiebreaker, smashed his racket on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court after losing his first service game and struggled to score any points, much less contend to win any games.

“When you come back in one situation like today, anything can happen, because it’s a little bit lottery,” Nadal said.

“It depends on the first two points. And this is not play well or play bad. You feel good in these two points or not. Important thing is to be ready to accept everything, and try to arrive there knowing what to do.”

Nadal, the No 3 seed, stayed in command and advanced to play Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, the No 6 seed, in the semi-finals. The men’s semi-finals are now scheduled for Sunday, with No 1 Roger Federer playing No 4 Novak Djokovic in the other half of the draw.