All-U.S. women in Open semis
Madison Keys completed the clean sweep for American women, giving the host country all four U.S. Open semifinal spots for the first time in 36 years.
The 15th-seeded Keys served impeccably, controlled ground-stroke exchanges from the baseline and never was in trouble during a 6-3, 6-3 victory against 418th-ranked qualifier Kaia Kanepi of Estonia that lasted only 69 minutes last night in New York.
That came several hours after 20th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe’s 7-6 (4), 6-3 elimination of 2016 runnerup and top-seeded Karolina Pliskova. Pliskova’s loss means she will be replaced at No. 1 in the rankings by Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.
Today, Keys faces Vandeweghe — with the winner reaching her first Grand Slam final — and No. 9 seed Venus Williams meets 83rd-ranked Sloane Stephens.
Not since 1981 have there been four American women in the final four at the U.S. Open, when the quartet was champion Tracy Austin, runner-up Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Barbara Potter. It hadn’t happened at any Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon four years after that.
On the men’s side, there will be no matchup between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal this year.
Federer’s 18-match Grand Slam winning streak ended with a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 quarterfinal loss to Juan Martin del Potro.
The result prevented Federer and Nadal from meeting in the semifinals, which would have been their first head-to-head showdown at Flushing Meadows.
It’s the only major tournament where the longtime rivals have never faced each other.
Nadal overwhelmed 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Karlsson hurting
Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson has no timetable to get back on the ice following offseason foot surgery.
Karlsson, the runner-up for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, said he hasn’t been able to do anything for three months since the operation in June to repair torn tendons in his left foot. The 27-year-old played with foot fractures and torn tendons during the playoffs as the Senators reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals . . . .
The Calgary Flames signed forward Sam Bennett to a two-year contract with an annual average value of $1.95 million. The 21-year-old had 13 goals and 13 assists in 81 regularseason games last season, and added two goals in four playoff games.
Grid time change
Travel concerns prompted officials to move the start of Saturday’s football game between No.21 South Florida and UConn at Rentschler Field in East Hartford to 10:30 a.m., moving it up from it’s planned noon kickoff.
The issue for USF was the potential impact Hurricane Irma might have on the Tampa area, including if it would impede the Bulls getting home after the game. The teams are both in the AAC’s East Division, but there was not a shared off date for rescheduling . . . .
Tennessee coach Butch Jones said that injured junior wide receiver Jauan Jennings is out “indefinitely.” He didn’t specify the nature of Jennings’ injury, which kept him out of the the second half of Monday’s opener.
Mick the pick
Phil Mickelson was selected as a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup and will be on a U.S. team for the 23rd consecutive time.
U.S. captain Steve Stricker used his two picks on Mickelson and Charley Hoffman, who was narrowly bumped out of the top 10 automatic qualifiers in the final week.
The surprise was International captain Nick Price taking Anirban Lahiri of India, who missed a short putt on the 18th hole in 2015 that proved pivotal in the Americans winning. Price also selected Emiliano Grillo of Argentina . . . .
Michelle Wie has withdrawn from The Evian Championship as she recovers from surgery to remove her appendix. The Evian Championship, the final major of the LPGA Tour season, begins Sept. 14 in France.