Gael Monfils wins all-French duel with Lucas Pouille

The 30-year-old mixed his typical showmanship with a professional steel as he came through 6-4 6-3 6-3.

The 10th seed will meet world No.1 Novak Djokovic or compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last four.

Pouille was unable to reproduce the form that saw him stun Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, but the 22-year-old will already be targeting success in 2017 after reaching back-to-back Grand Slam quarters.

Pouille started well, making good use of his serve, but Monfils wore him down in the middle of the first set to break at 4-3 before inconsistencies got the better of Pouille as he lost the opener.

Into the second and it looked like bad news for Pouille, who struggled to place shots and could not compete with the athleticism of Monfils.

A rain break and roof closure later, and a tired-looking Pouille laboured on to no avail as he slumped to a two-set deficit.

Looking exhausted by the third set, Puille had little to offer a fired-up Monfils and sloppy errors began to let him down with the Arthur Ashe crowd even booing at times.

Hitting his 13th ace of the evening, Monfils closed down the third and final set to move within a match of a maiden Slam final.