Venus in 1st U.S. Open semifinal since ’10
NEW YORK — When her work was done, her first trip to the U.S. Open semifinals since 2010 secured, if just barely, Venus Williams sat in her sideline chair and beamed.
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.
“Definitely felt like a special match. No easy moments, not easy to hold serve or break serve,” Williams said. “This match meant a lot to me, obviously, playing at home and, of course, it being a major.”
The 37-year-old, 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 got Williams to match point in the tiebreaker.
“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,” Williams said. “You have to take the ones you have.”
She will face unseeded Sloane Stephens on Thursday in the first all-American women’s semifinal in New York since 2002.
Stephens advanced earlier Tuesday with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) victory over 16th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. It is Stephens’ deepest run at any major since 2013 and the apex of a recovery from foot surgery in January.
There could be another U.S.U.S. semifinal on the other side of the draw: 15th-seeded Madison Keys and 20th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe play their quarterfinals Wednesday.
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. She returned to the tour at the French Open in May, losing in the second round there and at Wimbledon.
Kvitova has said she still does not have full strength in her left hand, but she was often at her powerful best against Williams, especially in the last two sets, repeatedly delivering big, flat forehands.
Williams is the oldest women’s semifinalist at a major tournament since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1994.
This sort of throwback run is becoming almost routine again for Williams, who made it to the Australian Open final in January, then the Wimbledon final in July. In 2002, she participated in three Grand Slam finals, losing each to her younger sister Serena.
Stephens, ranked 83rd, has won 13 of her past 15 matches, reaching the semifinals at three consecutive tournaments for the only time in her career after being sidelined following an operation in January.
In the men’s quarterfinals, South African Kevin Anderson moved into his first Grand Slam semifinal at age 31, emerging from a thrilling back-and-forth matchup between big servers to beat American Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (9), 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Anderson finished with 22 aces; Querrey hit 20.
Anderson will face 12thseeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain on Friday after Carreno Busta had no trouble beating No. 29 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.