Heavens help Halep advance to semifinals
Simona Halep appreciated help from the heavens in her US Open quarterfinal.
Worn down after dropping the second set to Victoria Azarenka, the second-seeded Romanian got to rest up for nearly 90 minutes when the sky opened up.
“Thanks, God, for the rain,” she said in an on-court interview after her 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory on Wednesday.
Halep, who is just 5-foot-6, came back on court with a 106 mph ace to prove just how fresh she felt.
She advanced to face 26thseeded Flavia Pennetta, who beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in another three-set match earlier in the day.
Azarenka is a two-time major champ and a two-time US Open runner-up. Her bigmatch experience showed for much of the afternoon against Halep, who was seeking to reach just her third major semifinal and first at Flushing Meadows.
The 23-year-old Romanian had 40 winners to 19 unforced errors, while Azarenka had 38 winners to 42 unforced errors. At key moments, though, Azarenka was better, converting all five of her break-point chances while Halep was 6 for 19.
But when that final break point came at 3-3 in the third set, Halep converted it, and that was enough to squeeze out the victory.
The rain came in the fourth game of the final set and delayed the match for 85 minutes. Azarenka broke Halep in her first service game of the set only to be immediately broken back.
“I was a little bit surprised by the pace of her ball, to be honest,” Azarenka said.
Both women’s quarterfinals went to three sets, the first time since the 1982 US Open that all four women’s quarters went the distance at a major.
Pennetta rallied from down a set and a break to reach her second US Open semifinal in three years.
“In the second set, I was really in trouble,” she said. “I just kept going, playing, playing. It’s unbelievable.”
In 38 career appearances at the other three majors, Pennetta has reached the quarters just once. She has done it six times in seven years at Flushing Meadows, including her only two trips to a Grand Slam semifinal.
“I never thought I would go so far in the tournament, so it’s something special,” said Pennetta, who had lost five of her past seven matches coming into the US Open.
The win by the 33-year-old Pennetta means that three of the women’s semifinalists at a major will be at least 32 for the first time in the Open era. She joins another 33-year-old, Serena Williams, and fellow Italian Roberta Vinci, 32.
It’s also the first time in the Open era, which started in 1968, that two Italian women have reached the semifinals in the same Grand Slam tournament.
Pennetta beat fifth-seeded Kvitova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on a steamy afternoon. Kvitova, who has battled mononucleosis this summer, was struggling physically by the end of the match.
“Right from the beginning I didn’t really feel 100 percent ready today,” Kvitova said.