In Thursday’s other semifinal, No. 2 Angelique Kerber plays two-time U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki.
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By the time the stanza came to a close, Serena had piled up six aces and 13 winners.
Serena Williams has shown little sign of physical or mental stress on her route through to the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Halep powered the ball back and forth with Williams, overpowering her at times. “She hasn’t quite come out yet, though”.
While Williams will compete in her 33rd grand slam semi-final, the match is further uncharted territory for Pliskova, who arrived as the only top-20 player to have not reached the fourth round at one of the four blue riband events.
“So what I gather from that is I really could have played better in that second set and maybe had an opportunity to win in straights”.
Instead, Williams converted the only break chance she would get – or need – in the deciding set to go ahead 3-1, and was on her way.
She should be feeling good about exorcising demons in NY a year after Roberta Vinci bounced her in the semifinals. I don’t have to be afraid or to have emotions because I have nothing to lose. “I tried to stay positive and I knew that if I did, I could just stay in the match”.
Williams, who has reached the quarter-finals without dropping her serve, has won seven of eight career matches against former French Open finalist Halep. “She has a lot of power when she hits, so I have just to recover my body, to be 100% next round, and to give everything I have”.
Williams, seeded No. 1 and seeking her record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title, took the opening set 6-2 on Wednesday night despite being broken for the first time in the tournament. If Williams holds the trophy aloft at Flushing Meadows on Saturday she will eclipse Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Grand Slam titles.
“You have so many up-and-coming young women already on the tour, and then to see this wave of great junior girls coming behind them is really, really encouraging”, said Martin Blackman, the U.S. Tennis Association’s player development manager. “I think that’s the beauty, one of the reasons I’m able to hang”.
“I played a really good match against him when we played a few weeks ago”, Murray said.
The victor will play either Ana Konjuh or Karolina Pliskova in the semi-final stages. But both have been impressive, especially in the fourth round. Williams had five break points that she blew in that game alone.
Murray, the No. 2 seed and 2012 champion at Flushing Meadows, disagreed with chair umpire Marija Cicak’s decision to immediately halt things when play was interrupted by a sound similar to that of a gong being struck.
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He had won 26 of his previous 27 matches, included a second Wimbledon championship in July and an unprecedented second consecutive Olympic singles gold medal last month. Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open title victor, earned the silver at the Olympics, while Wawrinka won a hard-court major trophy at the 2014 Australian Open.
