40th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic and 43rd-ranked Roberta Vinci took full advantage, and Vinci reached her first ever Grand Slam semifinal winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
“It’s an fantastic moment for me, it’s unbelievable”, Vinci told ESPN. “I have nothing to lose”. I’m just playing my game and trying to do better than before.
On the downside though, Mladenovic ended up losing 3-6, 7-5, 4-6.
And when Serena took control down the stretch to emerge with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory in a well-played U.S. Open quarterfinal, allowing her to continue pursuing the first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a quarter-century, a smiling Venus wrapped both arms around her little sister for a warm hug at the net and whispered, “So happy for you”. She hasn’t reached the semifinals at any Grand Slam tournament since the 2010 U.S. Open, and might have considered this her last, best chance to collect an eighth major singles championship of her own.
“That was a mental massacre for both of us”, Vinci said.
After easily dispatching Vania King in her opening match, Vinci clawed her way past Denisa Allertova in a tight three-set battle.
“They both played their best”, said Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. The Italian becomes the third player from her country to reach the last 4 in New York, after falling twice to her compatriots in the last 8 stage in 2012 and 2013.
Venus Williams, 35, is the oldest woman in a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Martina Navratilova, then 37, at Wimbledon in 1994.
“She’s the number one”.
“Doesn’t matter”, she said with a wide grin. It’s tough to return.
With Vinci’s ranking down to 43rd, she never expected this. Two top-10 players she could have faced – Ana Ivanovic and Carla Suarez Navarro – were upset; another, Maria Sharapova, pulled out because of injury.
No women’s top seed has fallen before the semi-finals since Dinara Safina in 2009 and no defending champion has lost in the quarter-finals since Stosur in 2012.
Bouchard, but the Canadian withdrew after sustaining a concussion when she slipped and fell in the lockerroom two days earlier. So maybe this was my tournament.
I’m not sure Vinci has the necessary firepower to upset the rising star, though nerves could play a factor.
Flavia Pennetta has claimed that Roberta Vinci has the ability to cause a shock against Serena Williams in the US Open semi-finals.
“When you work hard for a long time and every single day, sometimes you have some periods down and try to come back”.