Caroline Wozniacki was rock solid again on Tuesday night, jumping ahead early and taking advantage of a hobbled Anastasija Sevastova to advance to the U.S. Open semifinals with a 6-0, 6-2 victory inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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Caroline Wozniacki makes quick work of Anastasija Sevastova to cruise into the US Open seims.
Australian Open champion Kerber defeated Italy’s Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-0 to reach her second semi-final in NY having also made the last four in 2011.
Even having her right ankle heavily strapped did nothing to improve her chances of becoming the first Latvian woman to reach the last-four at a grand slam.
Wozniacki and Kerber both have Polish roots, and have known one another since they were junior players.
In the second set, Vinci won only 10 points.
Like Wozniacki, Vinci is a former runner-up – reaching the final previous year – and she continued on another run by beating Lesia Tsurenko 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
“We would still go on vacations, but the problem is like Aga is getting married, so then all of a sudden we’re like, we just want a girls’ trip, but it’s tough when everyone has their own thing”, said Wozniacki.
So imagine the little ripple of surprise Wozniacki caused the other day after she’d upset Keys – playing some tennis that was nearly as immaculate as her win over Sevastova – and actually bragged a little, saying, “I think it sucks for some of the other players to have to play me early” in tournaments. She hadn’t ceded a set until Tuesday, beating No. 3 Garbine Muguruza, the French Open champion, and No. 13 Johanna Konta on the way to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. She made just seven unforced errors while Keys was plagued by 33.
“I know it sounds bad, but honestly, at this point I’m like, I really don’t care what my ranking is”, Wozniacki said. “I’ve beaten pretty much everyone in the draw before”. “I think that’s kind of recharged my batteries”.
“It’s nice to have mom around”, the 26-year-old Dane said.
The two-time runner-up, ranked at a lowly 74 after an injury-hit campaign, eased to a 6-0, 6-2 win and will face second seed Angelique Kerber for a place in Saturday’s championship match.
The 26-year-old former world number one’s quarter-final triumph came in the wake of comments from her father, claiming retirements could be on the cards.
After winning a tough four-setter against Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in the first round, Djokovic was handed a walkover win in the second round when Jiri Vesely succumbed to an arm injury before the match. “I feel like the match just got away from me”. “She’s confident and does not miss so many balls”, said Vinci.
The in-form world number 72 has not lost a set since dropping her first of the tournament 4-6 to Taylor Townsend, and will need every ounce of her ability when she meets another of the tour’s best athletes in the semi-finals. When it happens it will be unbelievable feeling, because that was also one of my dreams when I was a kid.
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The remaining four last-16 matches take place on Monday when world No 1 and six-time victor Serena Williams tackles Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
