HUDDLING UP TO HELP OUT
Keys completes all-American women’s semifinals
Alexis Williams, left, accepts public donations for victims of Hurricane Harvey on Wednesday. People who dropped off items before 11 a.m. were given free tickets to Saturday’s game between the University of Colorado and Texas State in Boulder. Dropoff organizers accepted bottled water, nonperishable food items, hygiene products, cleaning supplies and gently used clothes. »
NEW YORK» So much for the first U.S. Open matchup between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Federer failed to live up to his end of the bargain.
Hours after Nadal did his part with an easy-as-can-be victory to get to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows, Federer was unable to join him for what would have been the most-anticipated showdown of the entire two weeks, wasting chances to take control and missing makable shots in a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 loss to 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro on Wednesday night.
Federer entered the quarterfinals with an 18-0 Grand Slam record this season, including titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon to raise his record count to 19 major championships.
But he tweaked his back at a tournament last month, curtailing his preparation for the U.S. Open, and he was not quite at his best for stretches. He needed five sets to win each of his first two matches — and Wednesday, he succumbed to the same formula of massive forehands and booming serves that del Potro used when he upset Federer in the final eight years ago.
Before the tournament began, Nadal was honest as can be when asked whether he hoped to face Federer at the only Grand Slam tournament where they’ve never met.
The answer, the No. 1-seeded Nadal said earnestly, was no — because he’d rather go up against someone easier to beat.
Well, as it turns out, he’ll go up against del Potro on Friday, when the other semifinal features two men who have never been this far at any major: No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain vs. No. 28 Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Nadal, who has won two of his 15 Grand Slam trophies in New York, overwhelmed 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, then had to wait hours to see what Federer would do under the lights.
In the women’s quarterfinals, 15th-seeded Madison Keys completed an all-American lineup in the final four with a dominating 6-3, 6-3 victory over 418thranked qualifier Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in only 69 minutes Wednesday night. Earlier, No. 20 CoCo Vandeweghe knocked off top-seeded Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (4), 6-3. Keys and Vandeweghe will meet Thursday to determine which reaches her first Grand Slam final.
Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens set up their all-U.S. semifinal with victories Tuesday.
It is the first time since 1981 that all four women’s semifinalists in New York are from the host country.