TENNIS US OPEN:RUSSIA'S VERA Zvonareva reached her second successive Grand Slam final with a comprehensive victory over top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the US Open last night.
Zvonareva dominated the day’s first semi-final from the outset on Arthur Ashe Stadium to record a 6-4 6-3 win in one hour and 25 minutes.
The seventh seed, who lost to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final earlier this year, will play the winner of the second semi-final between defending champion Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams.
“It was a tough match, Caroline was here in the finals last year and she’s a great player,” said Zvonareva. “It was very difficult for both of us with the wind but I think I was patient and aggressive like in the previous matches.
“It was a great experience for me at Wimbledon but I think it’s in the past, I’m trying to look forward at the moment and am just enjoying this day, my win today. I will think about the match later.”
Wozniacki had not dropped a set in reaching the semi-finals and had only lost 17 games in total, but was immediately in trouble, saving two break points in the opening game of the match.
The 20-year-old Dane, beaten by Clijsters in the final 12 months ago, was unable to repeat the trick in her next service game however and Zvonareva served superbly throughout the opening set to take it in 45 minutes.
Wozniacki was committing way more unforced errors than usual – 31 in total in the match – and although she initially recovered from a break down early in the second set, Zvonareva broke in the next game as well for a 3-2 lead.
The 26-year-old from Moscow was having more trouble with broken strings than Wozniacki’s game and a fourth break of Wozniacki’s serve sealed a well-deserved victory.
Wozniacki, who had won three of her last four tournaments, paid tribute to Zvonareva’s performance, adding: “She played a really good game.
“She was not missing a lot. She was going for her shots, most things were going in. I had chances and I made some mistakes today that I usually don’t do.
“It was a tough day for me in the office. That’s the way tennis is sometimes. I definitely was playing great tennis up to the tournament and in the tournament. Even today I had periods where I was playing really well.
“I was really trying. I was really trying to move my legs even more, trying to get into this rhythm where I could lead in this game, but she was really strong today and she played really well.
“Of course I really don’t like losing, but I just need to learn from this. I made it to the semi-finals of the US Open and when I look back on this tournament I can be proud of what I’ve achieved.”
Meanwhile, America’s Mike and Bob Bryan yesterday won their third US Open doubles title with victory over India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
The Bryan brothers won 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/4) in a match without a single break of serve on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Bopanna and Qureshi, nicknamed the IndoPak Express, were unable to convert any of their four break point chances in a tight contest as the American pair claimed their ninth Grand Slam title.
Elsewhere, only Novak Djokovic and Mikhail Youzhny stand in the way of the “dream” men’s final between the world’s top two players, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. But both would be happy to be cast as the villain of the piece by winning their respective semi-finals today.
Djokovic takes on Federer for the fourth year in succession in New York, having lost to the Swiss star in the final in 2007 and the semi-finals in 2008 and 2009.
Federer also leads their head-to-head record 10-5 and has not dropped a set on the way to the last four.
Speaking about the prospect of a Nadal-Federer final, Djokovic said: “They are the biggest favourites to get into the finals and I’m sure that the crowd wants them in the finals. But I will try to not make that happen.”
Women’s Singles Semi-final: (7) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt (1) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 6-4 6-3
Men’s Doubles Final: (1) Bob Bryan (USA) Mike Bryan (USA) bt (16) Rohan Bopanna (Ind) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4)
Women’s Doubles Semi-final: (2) Liezel Huber (USA) Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt (7) Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) Jie Zheng (Chn) 6-3 6-2
