Wozniacki and Zvonareva complete semis line-up
Originally published on: 09/09/10 15:11
The windy conditions are not the only thing making a storm on the US Open show courts. With the first week coming to an end the latter stages of the year’s last major are starting to take shape.
The ease with which Kim Clijsters dismissed Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round seemed like a distant memory when she took on Sam Stosur on the Arthur Ashe Stadium this Tuesday night as the tricky conditions played its part in an error-strewn match from both players.
With a grand total of 79 errors between them, Clijsters showed glimpses of magic late in the final set eventually taking the match 6-4 5-7 6-3. Commenting on her performance Kim confessed: “I didn’t play a good match but I was still able to win it. Even after the match I was, ‘how did I win this?”
As they say: better late than never.
Up next for the defending champ is Venus Williams. At 6-6 in their head-to-head can Kim defeat another Williams sister on home turf?
After comfortably surpassing last year’s fourth-round appearance, the seven-time Grand Slam champ has enjoyed a brilliant US Open campaign so far, progressing without dropping a set in the tournament. Even so, the first ladies quarter-final match was to be the first of an error-dominated night at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Although she came through 7-6(5) 6-4 Williams’s performance against Francesca Schiavone wasn’t pretty. Struggling with the wind and the producing 33 unforced errors, the No.3 seed salvaged some form in the first set tie break going 4-0 up before winning the breaker.
Venus extends her head to head lead over Schiavone to 8-0 and admitted that the match was “challenging”, with the wind forcing her to play a little safer.
It was a similar affair for the top half of the draw on Wednesday. Once again, blustering conditions meant a usually dreadful ratio of 10 winners to 28 unforced errors saw Vera Zvonareva progress to her first US Open semi-final after defeating No.31 seed Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-3 7-5.
Kanepi, conqueror of No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic and appearing in her second consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final, made no excuses for her perfomance saying “I can’t blame the wind for everything, I didn’t play well.”
Vera Zvonareva also acknowledged that her performance wasn’t up to scratch, but declared that she outplayed her opponent.: “I think I was making it difficult for her. She had to go more for her shots.”
A women’s doubles champion in 2006, Zvonareva has already surpassed her best performance at Flushing Meadows and awaits top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals.
The 20-year-old, arguably the most consistent player this season, posted her 14th consecutive match win after defeating 21-year-old Slovakian Dominka Cibulkova – who knocked out former champ Svetlana Kuznetsova.
After overcoming the Sharapova test, Wozniacki dropped just seven games to take the match 6-2 7-5. It was the second time in three weeks that Wozniacki has faced Cibulkova this summer, who she defeated on route to her New Haven crown.
Wozniacki dealt well with the windy environment on Wednesday night but admitted afterwards “it felt like playing in a hurricane.”
Having beaten Zvonareva at the Rogers Cup in Montreal prior to the US Open, last year’s beaten finalist looks in great shape to at least match her 2009 run.
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