Williams makes return to semifinals
NEW YORK — Venus Williams continued her remarkable renaissance by returning to the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time since 2010.
Williams reached her third major semifinal of the season — something she last did 15 years ago — by edging two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2) on Tuesday night to a soundtrack of thunderous partisan support under a closed roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 37-year-old Williams, who won titles at Flushing Meadows way back in 2000 and 2001, trailed 3-1 in the third set before digging out of the hole with a little help: Kvitova’s eighth doublefault handed over the break that made it 3-all. Kvitova’s ninth double-fault gave Williams her initial match point in the tiebreaker.
Kvitova, seeded 13th, was hoping to prolong her comeback from a knife attack less than nine months ago by reaching the first U.S. Open semifinal of her career.
Williams is the oldest women’s semifinalist at any Grand Slam tournament since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1994.
But this sort of throwback run is becoming almost routine again for Williams, who made it to the Australian Open final in January of this year, then the Wimbledon final in July.
She will face unseeded Sloane Stephens on Thursday in the first all-American women’s semifinal in New York since 2002.
Stephens reached the final four at Flushing Meadows for the first time by edging 16th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) for her deepest run at any major since 2013.
In the men’s quarterfinals, 12th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta had no trouble beating No. 29 Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. It was Carreno Busta’s first match of the tournament against an opponent who was not a qualifier.
Carreno Busta’s debut in a Grand Slam semifinal will come Friday against No. 17 Sam Querrey of the U.S. or No. 28 Kevin Anderson, who were scheduled to play Tuesday night.