Comebacks converge in Open semis

Another chapter will be written at the U.S. Open on Thursday night in at least one American woman’s comeback story.

Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens each hope to make theirs the one with the happy ending when they go head-to-head in a 7 p.m. semifinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“It’s been a great two weeks for American tennis,” Williams said Tuesday after a three-set win over Petra Kvitova.

Williams, who last won the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001 and has not won a Grand Slam title since claiming Wimbledon in 2008, is in the midst of a resurgent run. The 37-yearold has battled through a 2011 diagnosis of Sjogrens Syndrome and later a back injury.

From 2011-2014, she never made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament.

“At the time, the frame of mind is as an athlete and as myself, I don’t accept limitations. So it took a while to accept some limitations,” Williams said. “.Whatever I had, I had to do the best I could with that and to be the strongest that I could.”

Stephens, in search of her first career Grand Slam title, might know the feeling. After walking on “a peg leg and in a cast” for upwards of 15 weeks following a loss and foot injury in the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 24-year-old endured a lengthy rehab that kept her out until Wimbledon in July.

“If someone would have told me when I started at Wimbledon that I’d be in the semifinals … I would have said they’re crazy,” Stephens said Tuesday after a three-set win over Anastasija Sevastova.

“I think sport is, you know, a little microcosm of life, and it shows the human spirit, just being out there on the court, fighting against all odds,” Williams said. “It’s very encouraging for people to watch.

“You never know whose life you’ll touch just by being your best.”