Federer’s latest triumph extended his winning streak over American opponents to 27 matches.

Even after his fifth try, Blake has yet to come up with an answer for Federer. But the 26-year old did manage to finally put a chink in Federer’s armour.

The exciting third set was the first time Blake had ever taken a set from the seemingly invincible Federer, who had not dropped one in his first four matches of the tournament.

Despite jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the third-set tiebreaker, Blake did not close the deal until his fourth set point opportunity when Federer slipped on the baseline.

Riding the momentum from a supportive crowd, Blake held serve and took the first game of the fourth set before Federer rallied. Trailing 0-40 in the second game, Federer managed to hold serve en route to winning five straight games.

One game away from elimination, Blake refused to go quietly, winning the next three games to pull within 5-4. But Federer eventually closed out things on his fourth match point.

The match could have taken an entirely different complexion had Blake pulled through in the first-set tie-breaker. Trailing the tie-breaker 4-1, Blake stormed back to earn a set point opportunity by winning five of the next six points before falling short.

The victory moved Federer into his 10th consecutive Grand Slam semi-final and improved his 2006 hard court record to a tour-leading 40-2. In his last 61 matches on North American hard courts, Federer boasts an incomparable 60-1 record.

The Swiss player is now only two wins away from becoming the first man during the Open Era to win back-to-back Wimbledon and US Open titles over three consecutive years. In order to do so, he will have to first get past number seven Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Earlier on Thursday, Davydenko came back from two sets down to earn a 4-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over number 14 Tommy Haas of Germany.

The Russian benefited from having Haas on the court for another long match.

Haas’ previous two matches were a combined six hours, 35 minutes.

He overcame breathing problems to defeat American Robby Ginepri in three hours, 25 minutes and on Wednesday had his match with Russian Marat Safin pushed back by rain only to see it last three hours, 10 minutes.

Entering Thursday’s match, Haas had been on the court for nine hours, 28 minutes. Davydenko had been on the court for exactly two hours less.

Determined not to play another lengthy match, Haas appeared to have the momentum when he easily won the tie-breaker in the second set. But Davydenko, who only had to play one set Wednesday against Andy Murray, broke Haas in the eighth game of the third set and closed out the set easily.

After winning the fourth set, Davydenko won four games in a row to take a 5-2 lead. He had Haas at match point but committed three double faults, blowing a chance to end the match.

Haas took an injury time-out to have a trainer attend to his thighs, which appeared to cramp up. The time-out briefly helped the 28-year-old German regain momentum as he won the ninth game when Davydenko’s backhand attempt sailed wide.

In the final game, Haas had Davydenko at break point. But he failed to prolong the match and the three-hour, 45-minute marathon ended when Davydenko smacked a hard forehand winner.