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All-US women’s semis set
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MADISON Keys completed the clean sweep for American women, giving the host country all four US Open semifinal spots for the first time in 36 years.
The 15th-seeded Keys served impeccably, controlled groundstroke exchanges from the baseline and was never in trouble during a 6-3, 6-3 victory over 418th-ranked qualifier Kaia Kanepi of Estonia that lasted only 69 minutes on Wednesday.
That came several hours after 20th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe’s 7-6 (4), 6-3 elimination of 2016 runner-up and top-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. Pliskova’s loss means she will be replaced at No. 1 in the rankings by Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.
Today, Keys faces Vandeweghe — with the winner reaching her first Grand Slam final — and No. 9 seed Venus Williams meets 83rd-ranked Sloane Stephens.
“Oh, my God, it feels so good. We have so many Americans to talk about in the last days of the US Open,” Keys said. “I can’t tell you how many times I have sat in this chair and had to hear, you know, how horrible tennis is in America.”
Williams, whose seven major titles include the 2000 and 2001 US Opens, and Stephens won quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Not since 1981 have there been four American women in the final four at the US Open, when the quartet was champion Tracy Austin, runner-up Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Barbara Potter. It hadn’t happened at any Grand Slam since Wimbledon four years after that.
While Williams is 37, the oldest semifinalist in tournament history, the other members of the remaining trio are all in their 20s.
Keys, 22, had a rough start to 2017, missing the first two months after offseason surgery on her left wrist, and then had another procedure in June because of lingering pain. She was terrific against Kanepi, who sat with a white towel over her head during changeovers and dropped to 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals.
Keys set the tone in the opening game: ace at 108 mph (172kph), ace at 105 mph, service winner at 117 mph, service winner at 112 mph. She wound up with eight aces, part of a 23-8 in total winners.
“This means the world to me,” said Keys, also a semifinalist at the 2015 Australian Open. “If someone told me this is where I would be, right before Wimbledon, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Vandeweghe, 25, a niece of former NBA player and current league executive Kiki Vandeweghe, reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open in January. She was the junior champion in New York in 2008, but never had success in the main draw until now.
One difference this time at the US Open: Vandeweghe switched coaches midway through the season, teaming up in June with 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, who was nominated on Tuesday for the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
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