Williams courting history in New York

Serena Williams was a bit shaky at the start of her U.S. Open semifinal.

For all of six minutes. That’s how long it took her to drop the opening two games. Williams spent the next hour playing flawlessly, particularly at the net, and grabbed 12 of the last 13 games to beat No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-0 to reach her ninth final at Flushing Meadows and 36th at all Grand Slam tournaments. With one more victory, Williams will earn her seventh U.S. Open championship and her 24th major singles trophy, equalling Margaret Court for the most in tennis history. Williams already owns the mark for the most in the half-century professional era; Court won some of hers against amateur competition. On Saturday, Williams will face 2017 runner-up Madison Keys, the No. 14 seed, or 20th-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan, who were scheduled to play each other in the second semifinal. Neither Keys, 23, nor Osaka, 20, have won a Grand Slam title.

Keys has beaten Osaka all three times they have met, including this year at the French Open and two years ago at the U.S. Open, when she came back after trailing 5-1 in the third set. Meanwhile, Mike Bryan continues to excel at the U.S. Open, even without his twin brother and longtime doubles partner Bob. Bryan and Jack Sock, who stepped in earlier this year when Bob went down with a hip injury, have moved into the men’s doubles final with an 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-4 win over the Colombian team of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

They hope to add the U.S. Open title to the Wimbledon championship they won in just their second event together. They will face seventh-seeded Luke Kubot of Poland and Marcello Melo of Brazil, who won the day’s first semifinal 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3 over Radu Albot and Malek Jaziri.