ROS SATAR LOOKS AT THE LATEST NEWS AND GOSSIP FROM THE 2015 U.S. OPEN TENNIS

Written by: Staff on 8th September 2015

ROS SATAR LOOKS AT THE LATEST NEWS AND GOSSIP FROM THE 2015 U.S. OPEN TENNIS

epa04921088 A huge crowd of people wait outside the gates of Arthur Ashe for the end of the Marin Cilic / Jo-Wilfried Tsonga match so the night session can begin staring with Venus and Serena Williams playing each other on the ninth day of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 08 September 2015. The US Open runs through 13 September, which is a return to a 14-day schedule. EPA/DANIEL MURPHY |

Veni, Vidi…. VINCI! First of the women’s semi-finalists decided at the US Open

From the start of the tournament, when the seeds were scattered to the winds, we wondered what surprises would New York throw at us. The second quarter was almost like the enfant terrible of the draw – the unpredictable, the unreliable, and ultimately rewarded is with… an unseeded semi-finalist to get the first berth.

The momentum sat very much with two-time US Open quarter-finalist Roberta Vinci as she jumped to a 3-0 lead as her opponent Kristina Mladenovic looked to be wallowing through treacle, and that single break was enough to get the leap on the Frenchwoman for the first set.

The weather has been pretty brutal, and once more we saw it sap the living life out of a player as it relentlessly barbecued every facet of their being. As well as the pressure of playing in her first Slam quarter-final, the heat seemed to start affecting Mladenovic as she struggled yo hold her serve, yet clambered back into contention. Medical time-outs for the heat and later for a leg injury made her look even less likely to stay in contention, but somehow she kept prodding the Italian, before levelling the match, as both ladies took wise advantage of the 10 minute heat rule.

Roberta Vinci of Italy hits a return to Kristina Mladenovic of France during their quarterfinals match on the ninth day of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 08 September 2015. The US Open runs through 13 September, which is a return to a 14-day schedule. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

If we thought that the second set had been gruelling watching, the pair veritably played chess on court, including a staggering game of 15 minutes which finally yielded the Italian a break. Vinci, a former Top 10 player who was unseeded for the first time since 2010 then had the momentum she needed to match the achievements of her compatriots Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta to reach a US open semi-final, 6-3 5-7 6-4.

“It’s an amazing moment for me, it’s unbelievable,” Vinci said in her on-court interview. “It’s my first semifinal in my career. It was an incredible match, so tight, but I fight a lot.

“Kristina played so good and at the end probably both were a little bit tight and a little bit scared about the match, but I’m so happy and I don’t have words to say!”

Just a teeny observation though – when people scoff at the doubles – both Mladenovic and of course Vinci have a decent doubles pedigree behind them, and having won five Grand Slam titles with Errani, Vinci is no stranger to the kind of pressure involved at the business end, but of course next up is the winner of the battle of the Williams’ sisters.

“It’s not easy to play with your sister and Serena has a lot of pressure, I think. I will watch the match but I’m so happy to be in the semifinal, so if I play Serena or Venus, it doesn’t matter. I’m so happy right now!”

Day 10 Preview

We’re in double figures, ladies and gentlemen! So as a treat we will give you a quick run-down of the runners and riders in tomorrow’s quarter-finals.

Petra Kvitova v Flavia Pennetta

We join this head to head, evenly poised and pleasingly appeasing our sense of OCD by being nice and symmetrical in terms of wins. Back in their early days of playing, Penneta had the measure of the Czech with two wins on grass and one on hard courts before Kvitova started exerting a little more pressure, twice on hard courts and once on grass.

Perhaps less is proving to be more for the two-time Wimbledon champion – she has sailed through her matches without dropping a set, and even though she said she felt like the worst player in her fourth round match up with Johanna Konta, when it came down to it, the Brit couldn’t net get past her when it came to trying to convert on her break opportunities.

There is just something about Pennetta’s game that frustrates former US Open champion Sam Stosur, who lost to her yet again, and who can forget the Italian’s run to the semi-finals having had to come back from wrist surgery.

For Pennetta this far in New York is nothing new, bur for Kvitova, less training as a necessity for still recovering from mono has worked wonders for her in a tournament that previously was all kinds of bad voodoo.

Form and seeding should make this Kvitova’s all the way, and in fairness pundits and writers have been waiting for that inevitable Kvitova implosion, that heralds ‘P3tra’ (sometimes), yet we have waited, and waited…

Could it be that in the shadow of history, Kvitova could make a stand?

Kvitova in 3.

Victoria Azarenka v Simona Halep

They say that sometimes the best matches are the semi-finals – the players want it so much, that sometimes a resulting final can be a bit of an anti-climax. This has that buzz and feel of that kind of a match. Where the gladiatrices will swing and bludgeon for all their might until one warrior princess remains standing, bloodied but unbowed. Or in the case of these two – who has the most imaginative wrapping!

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reacts as she plays Angelique Kerber of Germany during their match on the sixth day of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 05 September 2015. The US Open runs through 13 September, which is a return to a 14-day schedule. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

Azarenka was responsible for one of the most corking women’s matches of the tournament with her battle against Angelique Kerber, before Simona Halep scrapped her way to a win over Sabine Lisicki. The heat will most definitely be on between this pair on Wednesday.

In 2012, with her first Slam title to her name, Azarenka was a steady fixture in the top three and the model of consistency when she took on a pre-breakthrough Halep, beating her twice that year to set their head to head.

Now fast-forward to when Halep broke her title duck in quite some style, racking up six in 2013 on every surface imaginable, before consolidating that breakthrough the year later with her first Grand Slam final.

Hit that button one more time will you? Azarenka is coming back from a run of injuries and Halep is finding her form again having had a European spring or summer that would barely warrant a postcard. Halep had to overcome injury against Sabine Lisicki and Azarenka withdraw in Cincinnati to get over a leg injury to give her all to the US Open.

And here’s the thing. Right here in this quarter-final are two of the current crop who we would pick as worthy contenders should Serena Williams make it to the final. This is a tough one to call, but in terms of the least walking wounded (rashes on arms thanks to chaffing material, notwithstanding), we would give this to the Belarusian.

Azarenka in 3.

Tidbits/ Gossip / Observations

· It was lucky 13 for Vinci after all, and at 32, she is one of 17 players over 30 in the line up. After her win over Mladenovic, she is projected to return to the Top 30.

· Halep now has made the quarter-finals of each Grand Slam and this is her best run in New York as she bids to be the first Romanian since Irina Spirlea made it to the semi-final in 1997.

· Azarenka was the US Open Junior champion in 2005, but comes here with her lowest seeding since she was first seeded in New York in 2008.

Ros Satar is a regular contributor to 10sballs.com and runs Britwatch Sports (@britwatchsports), because we Brits like watching sport. Occasionally we’re good at it.

Topics: 2015 U.S. Open, Ros Satar, Tennis News, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

September 8, 2015 at 8:00 pm

-@rfsatar LOOKS AT THE LATEST NEWS AND GOSSIP FROM THE 2015 U.S. OPEN TENNIS- http://t.co/nOM43mIjzm #tennis #USOpen2015 #WTA #USOpen
rfsatar says:

September 9, 2015 at 12:19 am

RT @10sBalls_com: -@rfsatar LOOKS AT THE LATEST NEWS AND GOSSIP FROM THE 2015 U.S. OPEN TENNIS- http://t.co/nOM43mIjzm #tennis #USOpen2015 …