US Open Day 10: Serena Williams Roared From Behind

NEW YORK – Aided by a passel of errors by her sister, Serena Williams roared from behind in both sets Wednesday night to edge Venus Williams and grab a spot in the semifinals of the US Open.
Serena’s 7-6 (6) 7-6 (7) victory puts her in the semis at America’s premier tennis tournament for the first since she won the hard court title in 2002. She beat her sister Venus then, too.
And it was a reversal of their Wimbledon final outcome this summer where Venus, the older of the two, captured the grass court title.
“I just hit another error. It was over,” Venus Williams said. “Maybe in the first set I got a little tight, but not in the second. I just missed some shots, probably went for too much.”
Serena next will take on sixth-seeded Dinara Safina, a 6-2 6-3 winner over Italy’s Flavia Pennetta. Friday’s other semifinal will pit second-seeded Jelena Jankovic against fifth-ranked Elena Dementieva, the Olympic gold medalist.
Venus smiled wanly when she shook hands with her beaming baby sister at the net following their match. She knew she had the victory on her own racquet – failing on all 10 set points she had during the 2-hour, 25-minute battle in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Serena didn’t make the same mistake.
“It boiled down to one point here or there. It could have gone either way,” Serena said.
Venus took the early lead by breaking Serena in the third game. The younger Williams double-faulted to 30-all, then buried a backhand into the net, giving Venus a break point. A little luck never hurt, and that’s what happened for Venus when her backhand struck the net and trickled over, giving her a 2-1 lead.
The older sister appeared ready to give the break right back, double-faulting twice to begin the fourth game. Twice the sisters went to deuce before Venus held, the final point coming on her second of eight aces on the night.
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Serena, who had looked sluggish at the beginning of the match, raised the level of her game, began striking the ball more cleanly and playing more aggressively. She took the net at every chance, forcing her will on every point. It paid off as Serena leveled the match at 5-5, breaking Venus at 15 when she jumped all over a second serve and ripped a forehand down the line.
The quality of play picked up tremendously as the match progressed. Both pounded their ground strokes deep, ran down and returned almost every shot and blistered their serves. Serena finished with seven aces.
When Serena just missed wide on a backhand down the line in the first-set tiebreak, Venus had double set point at 6-4. But Serena reeled off the next four points to win the set.
It was all Venus in the second set – or at least it was until she served to level the match. Leading 5-3, 40-love, reaching set point on her seventh ace, she sailed a forehand long. She did it again to make it 40-30. The third set point vanished when her backhand down the line was wide.
Two more errors off the racquet of Venus gave Serena the break and the sisters were back on serve.
The second set tiebreak was somewhat of a repeat of the first. The Wimbledon champion won the first three points and took a 6-3 lead – triple set point.
At 6-5, Venus had what looked like an easy overhead to win the set. But she angled the smash a little too much and it went wide. She had another set point at 7-6, but Serena wiped that one out when she cut off a forehand passing shot and punched a backhand volley winner.
Two points later, Serena had a spot in the semifinals against Safina.
For the night, Venus had 36 winners, but negated her big-hitting night with 45 unforced errors. Serena had 24 winners and 28 unforced errors.
Unlike the Williams match, there was no doubt about Safina’s victory as she continued her hot summer.
“I think today maybe I can say finally I’m happy with myself, the way I played, because really I did what I had to do,” said Safina, who is trying to match her brother Marat Safin and win the U.S. Open. “I was aggressive on the court. I was following the balls every time. I think it was today finally I played my game.”
In the day’s first men’s singles quarterfinals, sixth-seeded Andy Murray ended Juan Martin del Potro’s remarkable summer run 7-6 (2) 7-6 (1) 4-6 7-5. Coming into the US Open, Del Potro had won 23 consecutive matches and four straight tournaments.