Peng Shuai celebrates her victory over Belinda Bencic, yesterday.

Peng Shuai of China advanced to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open by outclassing Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic with a barrage of pinpoint groundstrokes in a 6-2 6-1 rout yesterday.

Peng, 28, delivered a master lesson to the 17-year-old Bencic on Arthur Ashe Stadium court in a battle of unseeded players, winning the groundstroke rallies and unleashing passing shot winners after luring the Swiss to the net with short balls.

World number one-ranked doubles player Shuai, whose best previous singles result in 36 grand slams was to the fourth-round, used her two-fisted groundstrokes to register 24 winners and seven unforced errors in a virtuoso performance.

The Chinese will play either former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, the 10th seed from Denmark, or Italian 13th seed Sara Errani in the semi-finals

On Monday, the tension mounted and temperatures soared at the US Open as top seed Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray set up a sensational quarter-final.

Temperatures neared 32C in Flushing Meadows and hovered around 38C on the hard courts in high humidity that tested players.

The sweltering conditions nearly sent out promising Canadian Eugenie Bouchard as the 20-year-old seventh seed had ice applied to her arms and legs and had her blood pressure checked during her fourth-round match before she was eliminated 7-6 6-4 by Ekaterina Makarova.

World number one Djokovic beat the heat by charging past 22nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, of Germany, 6-1 7-5 6-4.

“It’s important obviously in these particular conditions not to get carried away by frustration of heat,” said Djokovic.

“And especially after long rallies try to get extra breath.

“Obviously when I won second set I wanted to get the job done in three.”

Murray also made straight-sets work out of his clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, posting a 7-5 7-5 6-4 victory over the ninth-seeded Frenchman who had beaten him in the quarter-finals at the run-up tournament in Toronto.

Though Murray is seeded eighth after a sub-par season following last year’s back surgery, the Scotsman is approaching top form and has some positive memories of playing Wimbledon champion Djokovic in the grand slams.

Murray beat the Serb to win the 2012 US Open and the 2013 Wimbledon for his two grand slam titles.

Serena Williams turned back frustrations over a disappointing grand slam season by beating Kaia Kanepi to reach the quarter-finals.

The top seed will meet Italian 11th seed Flavia Pennetta, a semi-finalist last year who advanced with a 7-5 6-2 win against 29th-seeded Australian Casey Dellacqua.

Russian 17th seed Makarova, a dangerous opponent in the majors, produced another upset with her defeat of Bouchard, who wilted under the punishing conditions after showing her immense promise in reaching semi-finals of the year’s first three slams.

“It was really a tough match, with these conditions,” Makarova said.

“We were fighting really hard. It was a great match.”

The Russian, who has beaten the likes of Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska and Vera Zvonareva in grand slam events when they were ranked among the top seven in the world, will next play either 16th seed Victoria Azarenka.

Other result: Women’s doubles – Makarova/Vesnina bt S. Wil-liams/V. Williams 7-6 6-4.