Wozniacki reached her fifth U.S. Open semifinal, and first at any Grand Slam tournament in two years, by beating an injured Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-0, 6-2 on Tuesday night.
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Kerber beat last year’s runner-up, Roberta Vinci, 7-5, 6-0 before Wozniacki powered past a hobbled Sevastova to win 6-0, 6-2.
It is Wozniacki’s first major quarterfinal since she was runner-up to Serena Williams in the 2014 US Open final and leaves the Flushing Meadows singles draw with just two Americans still standing: Venus and Serena Williams.
The match was virtually over for Sevastova in the first set after she fell in the second game, needing a tape job on her right ankle, then losing it emotionally the remainder of the match.
“I’ve rolled my ankle several times so I feel real sorry for her”.
After missing the French Open between first round exits at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, expectations were low ahead of the final major tournament of the year, but Wozniacki has run into form in NY.
Anastasija Sevastova, who retired from tennis for almost two years, has reached her first major quarterfinal.
“I can’t believe I’m here in the quarterfinals”, Wozniacki said. “I knew if she can still walk and still put weight on it and stuff, then she’s obviously going to go more for her shots”. “It was so tough to play her”, said Sevastova, “But even though I had match point, I knew that with the sun at one end and the shade at the other I’d get another chance to break her”. You know, it’s incredible what she’s achieved.
“It was nerves a little bit”, admitted Keys. I think it helps I played so well here in the past. She believes the combination of the Wilson balls used at the U.S. Open and the speed of the courts is flawless for her game.
Serena Williams is without a doubt the most dominant superstar in women’s tennis, but she isn’t getting any younger.
The world number 48 overcame world number three Garbine Muguruza in the second round and 13th-seeded Briton Johanna Konta in the round of 16 and had not dropped a set ahead of her showdown with former world number one Wozniacki.
“For now I will train without a coach like at the beginning of the season, but of course that’s not the final state of things”, added the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon victor.
“I got nervous when I served for the match, it was very unsafe”, said the Italian who stunned Serena Williams in the semi-finals 12 months ago.
Konta, bidding to become the first British woman in the quarter-finals in NY since Jo Durie in 1983, never recovered from a poor start.
“Same serving, same speed”, she said. But she returned to competitive tennis two years later and outlasted the Great Britain native in straight sets. She looks fit, so it’s going to be a tough one. “Let’s see what I’m feeling and if I have a desire to continue”.
Wozniacki, who like Kerber, has Polish roots, and is a personal friend, was complimentary in her post-match interview.
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But Kerber hung in there to reach her first US Open semifinal since 2011.
