Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva advance to U.S. Open semifinals
No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki and No. 7 seed Vera Zvonareva both advanced to the semifinals at the U.S. Open with victories on Wednesday.
Wozniacki defeated Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and won her 13th straight match. Wozniacki’s current win streak includes titles in Montreal and New Haven. Wozniacki will now be hoping to reach her second straight U.S. Open final after losing to Kim Clijsters in the final last year.
Wozniaki was able to take advantage of 43 unforced errors from Cibulkova. A French Open semifinalist in 2009, Cibulkova clearly had problems adjusting to the windy conditions. Early in the match Cibulkova had difficulty controlling the toss on her serve due to the ball shifting directions. Wozniacki did a much better job adjusting, but admits the wind was a factor in the match.
"This felt like playing in a hurricane," Wozniacki said.
Wozniacki, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, raced out to a 4-1 lead in the first set against her frustrated opponent and eventually won the set 6-2. Cibulkova was able to do a much better job adjusting to the condition in the second set as the two players were tied at 5-5. However, in the crucial 11th game Wozniacki was able to break serve to take a 6-5 lead. Cibulkova then had a chance to break right back and force a tiebreaker, but Wozniacki was able to fight off break point and eventually held serve to take the second set 7-5 to close out the match.
In the earlier match, Zvonareva defeated Kaia Kanepi, the 31st seed, 6-3, 7-5 and reached her second consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. Despite hitting only 10 winners, Zvonareva was able to take advantage of a poor service game from Kanepi, as the Russian was able to break serve seven times. Kanepi also had nine double faults and clearly had a harder time adjusting to the windy conditions.
After losing the first set 6-3, Kanepi was able to raise her game in the second set, with the score squared at 5-5. However, in the crucial 11th game, Kanepi’s serve failed her again, as Zvonareva got the break to take a 6-5 lead and was then able to hold serve to close out the match in just under two hours.
Zvonareva has now won 11 of her last 12 Grand Slam matches, with the only loss coming against Serena Williams in the Wimbledon finale. Although she has yet to win a major, the Russian is still confident in her game having reached the semifinals in three of her last seven Grand Slam events.
"I always believed in myself," Zvonareva said. "I'm just going out there and trying my best in every match. You know, it's been working pretty good for me so far."
Zvonareva will now play Wozniacki in the semifinals on Friday. The two have met four times previously having split their all-time series. The other semifinal match will feature defending and two-time champion Kim Clijsters taking on Venus Williams, also a two-time champion having won back-to-back titles from 2000-01.
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