Venus through to semis
US veteran next meets compatriot Stephens
NEW YORK: Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams became the oldest semi-finalist in US Open history at age 37 on Tuesday by defeating two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2).
US ninth seed Williams, seeking her third US Open crown, advanced to today’s match-up against 83rd-ranked compatriot Sloane Stephens for a spot in Saturday’s final.
“I’m so fortunate to have won that match. It came down to the wire,” Williams said. “I try to tell myself enjoy the competition, enjoy the battle and I think I was able to do that.
“Sometimes you have opportunities and sometimes you take them and you don’t, but it’s not like you get opportunity after opportunity after opportunity in these sorts of matches,” said Williams. “You have to take the ones you have.”
Williams has taken those words to heart in a renaissance season that has seen her reach the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals and sit just one victory away from playing for the US Open title for the first time since 2002.
It has been nine years since Williams celebrated the last of her seven Grand Slam singles wins and 16 since she last lifted the US Open title and remains as hungry for trophies as ever.
“I’m still living my dream, and it’s amazing,” said Williams.
It did not always seem like it on Tuesday, particularly during a fluctuating second set when Williams was unable to put away her 13th seeded opponent, who had beaten her four times in five meetings.
“You know, definitely when I had opportunities in the second set and so many break points disappearing, you feel like, wow, I should be doing more,” said Williams. “You have to put it behind you.
“It’s about winning the match you’re in. Doesn’t matter whether you’re playing well or not playing well. It’s about figuring out how to win.
“These big matches there have been times where I have won these and there have been times I didn’t win them.”
Williams has been winning much more than losing this year putting together a 34-10 match record.
Stephens, who missed 11 months with a left foot injury before returning at Wimbledon, matched her best Grand Slam showing by outlasting Latvian 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4).
“This is just incredible,” Stephens said. “When I started my comeback at Wimbledon I could never have dreamed of coming back and having these results. It’s indescribable.”
Stephens has won 13 of her past 15 matches and matched her 2013 Australian Open semi-final run for best Slam effort.
Williams will return to the world top five for the first time since January 2011, a span that saw her diagnosed with the energysapping disease Sjogren’s Syndrome.
Williams, the oldest Slam semi-finalist since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1994, won the 2000 and 2001 US crowns.
She was runner-up this year at Wimbledon and the Australian Open and could reach three Slam finals in a year for the first time since 2002.
Kvitova battled back f rom a fivemonth absence after a knife-wielding home intruder injured her left hand last December.
“I’m glad I’m still able to compete on the high level against the top players which I hope will give me some confidence to continue to play well, to know that it’s still there somewhere,” Kvitova said.
If Americans Madison Keys and CoCo Vanderweghe win their quarter-finals, they will produce the first all-American US Open semi-finals since 1981.
“That would be huge,” Williams said. “I’d love that.
“All I have known all my life was great American players. So it’s great to see this resurgence, and I hope it can continue.”
Sevastova, who matched her best Grand Slam run from last year at New York by ousting Maria Sharapova to reach the last eight, led 3-1 in the third set before Stephens rallied.
“I just told myself to keep fighting and stay consistent,” Stephens said. “I knew if I just stick with it and stayed in every point I’d have my opportunity and I did.”
In the tie-break, Stephens took four of the last five points, three on Sevastova errors before hitting a down-the-line backhand winner ensured her win to reach the top 35 in next week’s rankings.
Sevastova admitted nerves got to her in the tie-break.
“It’s normal. You play for semi-finals of US Open. I’m not a robot. Sorry.”