Women’s Semis Under the Lights Take Center Stage at U.S. Open

September 10, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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On Day 11 of the 2015 U.S. Open, the schedule lightens up as the women take center stage and the finalists will be determined. Four women will be under the lights of Ashe Thursday evening, as kicking things off at 7:00 p.m. EST will be top-seeded Serena Williams facing the unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy, immediately followed by the second seeded Simona Halep squaring off with another Italian, the 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta.

Serena is marching toward a date with destiny, bidding for her 26th Grand Slam singles final. In the Open Era, Chris Evert reached the most Grand Slam finals with 34 (18-16 win-loss record), followed by Martina Navratilova (32; 18-14) and Steffi Graf (31; 22-9). Margaret Court reached 29 Grand Slam singles finals, going 24-5 overall and 11-1 in the Open Era. Halep has advanced to one Grand Slam final previously: 2014 Roland Garros (a loss to Maria Sharapova). Pennetta is in her second Grand Slam semifinal, having lost to Victoria Azarenka at 2013 U.S. Open. Vinci is making her Grand Slam semifinals debut, and becomes the 16th unseeded player to advance to a Grand Slam semifinal since Wimbledon 2001.

Thursday’s meeting between Serena and Vinci will mark the fifth matchup of their career, with Serena having taking the previous four the most recent, a 78-minute win by Serena just weeks ago in the quarterfinals in Toronto.

“I played her in Canada and she played me really tough, and I didn't really expect that,” said Serena of Vinci. “That's how I sprained my finger actually, was playing against her. Thankfully my finger is a little better now. But I'm not going to underestimate her. She played really well. She's not in the semifinals of a Grand Slam for no reason. She knows what to do and she knows what to play.”

Vinci said, “I know that I have a lot of experience, but when you play against Serena, it doesn't matter. You have to play better than better than better!”

Vinci’s Italian counterpart takes the court next, as Pennetta looks to upset the second seeded Simona Halep for a trip to the women’s singles finals on Saturday. Pennetta holds a 3-1 career advantage over Halep, the most recent win earlier in 2015 by Halep in Miami. Halep is making her sixth appearance at U.S. Open and is through to the semifinals for the first time.

“I know her,” said Halep of Pennetta. “She's very smart on the court. She's fighting. I know that she never gives up. I know that she has a great backhand. I have just to play smarter than usual. I have to be aggressive like I did today in the end of the match. I have to keep my serve and just go in there and be focused.”

In addition to the women’s semifinals match, the men’s doubles semifinals will kick things off at noon EST on Louis Armstrong as the 12th-seeded French duo of Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut faces the team of Dominic Inglot of Great Britain & Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt. Also on Armstrong, the unseeded American duo of Steve Johnson & Sam Querrey faces the eighth-seeded team of Jamie Murray of Great Britain & Australian John Peers.

"It was a great win for us today," said Murray of his team’s Wednesday victory over the fourth-seeded Marcin Matkowski & Nenad Zimonjic. "It was a high-level doubles match with both teams dominant on serve. We hustled a lot of balls in the tie-break and it paid off for us. Really looking forward to getting out on Arthur Ashe for the semis of the U.S. Open!"

Closing out the day action at Louis Armstrong Stadium will be the Women's Doubles Semifinals, where the fourth-seeded team of Australian Casey Dellacqua & Khazikstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova face the unseeded duo of Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld & Coco Vandeweghe of the United States. The winner moves on to the finals to face the top-seeded women’s team of Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza.

Thursday is being presented as "Doubles on Us” by the USTA, as free grounds passes are being offered to the day’s action. Among those in contention are the top-seeded Shingo Kunieda of Japan and second-seeded Nicolas Peifer of France.

The Men's and Women’s Collegiate Invitational will begin its quarterfinals, featuring local Julia Elbaba of Oyster Bay, N.Y. faces Julia Jones.

Click here to view the full schedule for Day 11 of the 2015 U.S. Open.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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