Youzhny and Wawrinka play today

An improbable quarterfinal is on today's draw at the U.S. Open. Mikhail Youzhny and Stanislas Wawrinka will clash for a place in the semifinals.

Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland are squaring off for the fifth time in their careers.The head-to-head series is tied at 2-2, but Youzhny leads 2-0 on hard courts while Wawrinka won both of their clay-court encounters. They most recently faced each other at this season's Sony Ericsson Open, with Youzhny prevailing 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in a second-round showdown.

Neither man had been in particularly impressive form since their Miami clash, so this quarterfinal battle comes as quite a surprise. Youzhny has dismissed Andrey Golubev, Dudi Sela, No. 18 seed John Isner, and Tommy Robredo, losing three sets in the process. 

"He's really strong player from the baseline," Wawrinka said of Youzhny. "He has a great backhand. It's gonna be difficult for me, but I will be focused more on myself than him."

That's a good plan, because Wawrinka has been dealing with a minor leg injury and he will certainly be fatigued, so he cannot worry about his opponent.