Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams to meet in US Open semifinals

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Wilson Blade 9

Kim ClijstersVenus Williams battled past French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6(5) 6-4 in a late-running daytime quarterfinal, while defending champion Kim Clijsters prevailed against French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur 6-4 5-7 6-3 at night.

After two breaks apiece it came down to a tie-break in the first set of the Williams vs. Schiavone encounter, played in windy conditions. The Italian, seeded sixth, recovered from a 0-4 deficit in the tiebreak, but two forehand errors at 5-5 handed Venus the set. The American third seed took control early in the second set but she twice let breaks slip before dismantling Schiavone’s serve once again to win the match. Williams has now defeated Schiavone in all of their eight meetings.

In the other quarterfinal of the day, Clijsters extended her US Open winning streak to 19 matches, which includes her titles in 2005 and 2009 (before and after her retirement). The fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur made the better start but Clijsters fought back to take the first set. Stosur revived in the second set and Clijsters was in trouble in the decider as she was broken three times in a row. In that same set, however, Stosur did not hold serve once. The scrappy match featured a total of 15 breaks.

Williams and Clijsters will face each other in the semifinals and both are chasing their third titles at the US Open.  The two met last year in the fourth round when Clijsters won with an interesting score 6-0 0-6 6-4. (sources: BBC, Women Who Serve, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

28 COMMENTS

  1. I think we should have a repeat of the last year’s final, and this time I would like to see Wozniacki holding the major trophy.

  2. Wozniaki winning the U.S. Open….Wishful thinking. Wozniaki only has a baseline defensive, hit the ball in the middle of the court, 22 stroke rally per point game, and mediocre serve game. She has too much attitude and not enough game. She has yet to face and beat a top 10 player. Of course, she is blond and cute so the media will lift her up as they did Sharapova who hasn’t accomplished a thing lately. Go get some game Wozy!!

  3. Yeah, sure Denise, she would not beat an egg and neither would Sharapova,is it? And winning 4 titles which is the most of all women on the tour this year is also probably nothing to you,right? Maybe you should watch tennis more often before commenting.

  4. Marine, I watch tennis all the time. She has won for titles this year, but how many grand slam titles? As a matter of fact, she has not made it past the quarters in any slam. She has yet to play a top 5 player this year. So maybe you don’t know your tennis facts. History is made by winning grand slams not the small stuff inbetween. So how many grand slams does Wozy have in her pocket? None. The only threat that she went up against at the USO is Sharapova. Sharapova lost the match on her own double faults and unforced errors….probably upset that Wozy is now the new poster child of tennis….you know, kinda like Kournikova…beauty without a slam!
    Whoever wins tomorrow between Clijsters and Venus will win the US Open. The Clijsters/Venus match is the real final!

  5. Its not a forgone conclusion that Kim will win over Venus,there will be blood and I think Vee will spring a surprise.
    I can confidently say that Kim will not win the Open,I just feel that she will lose a match that everyone thought would be a walkover.
    Wozniacki is peaking now and has a chance …

  6. Hey Marine, Wozniaki lost today as predicted….6-4; 6-3. She played a top ten player who doesn’t put up with the defensive, baseline, run down the ball, return to the center of the court and wait until the opponent makes a mistake kind of game. WOZY IS OUT…..THANK GOD. Whoever wins between Clijsters and Venus will win the US Open!

  7. Everyone thought it would be a walkover? Like who? LOL.
    Caro was beaten today but she’s beaten Zvonareva in the past. She does have a defensive game, so what? It actually works pretty well, much better than offensive tennis of some players. It doesn’t matter that she has not won a grand slam. She’s won a lot of big titles and has an impressive record especially for someone that young. Grand slams are not everything.

  8. It’s not that it’s easy to be a defensive player, everyone has a different style of play. But this loss to Zvonareva is disappointing, I expected more from Woz.

  9. Wozniacki doesn’t have game. She lost as she should have. The media unjustly built her up. She did not face a formidable opponent, except Sharapova. All the others she played at the USO were not even in the top 50. She played her usual defensive baseline run down the ball and safely return to the center of the court game against an experience player. Wozy has no net game nor serve. She has toouch attitude and not enough gratitude. Vera came in and took her out of her element. Way to go Vera. Thanks for not melting down.

    BTW Marine, this is the 2nd grand slam final for Vera this year. Wozy didn’t do much at Wimbledon.
    The top ten players don’t play every US Open warm uups for fear of risking injury. Wozy is another SSafina…alot of small tournament wins to rack up the points. Wozy has not won a major tourny aall year….Indian Wells, Miami, Aussie open, WWimbledon, French Open, US Open etc. These are considered major. And nothing is major unless you ccan beat Serena, Clijsters, Henin and Venus!. Go hide under a rock Marine and take no game Wozy wwith you.

  10. Wozniacki doesn’t have game. She lost as she should have. The media unjustly built her up. She did not face a formidable opponent, except Sharapova. All the others she played at the USO were not even in the top 50. She played her usual defensive baseline run down the ball and safely return to the center of the court game against an experienced player. Wozy doesn’t have a net game nor serve. She has too much attitude and not enough gratitude. Vera came in and took her out of her element. Way to go Vera. Thanks for not melting down.

    BTW Marine, this is the 2nd grand slam final for Vera this year. Wozy didn’t do much at Wimbledon.
    The top ten players don’t play every US Open warm up for fear of risking injury. Wozy is another Safina…alot of small tournament wins to rack up the points. Wozy has not won a major tournament all year….Indian Wells, Miami, Aussie open, Wimbledon, French Open, US Open etc. These are considered major. And nothing is major unless you can beat the best….Serena, Clijsters, Henin, Venus and the likes! Go hide under a rock Marine and take no game Wozy with you.

  11. Yeah, Marija, I think that to be a defensive player is actually quite a task. Caroline has to read the game of her rival really well in order to anticipate the next shot. To keep up in long rallies one has to have a lot of stamina.
    To Denise, it shows you know little about tennis and Caroline’s career even though you believe otherwise, so don’t preach to us here, OK? You must be one of those bad-tempered fans of Williams sisters. I’m not going to waste my time on useless bickering with you any more.

  12. Marine, Not bad tempered at all. I can see you are a die hard Wozniacki fan. Still can’t get over the fact that she lost. Too much hype on Wozy. Her game will develop over time. IF it does, I will give her the props due. At this point, she doesn’t have the game that Clijsters or the other top 10 player have. She was over rated coming into the draw. She is no #1 player….frankly, she is not #2 and shouldn’t be in the top 5. The WTA point system is out of wack. So get over it Marine, your girl lost. Clijster and Zvonereva earned the top spot at the USO. May the best player come out on top!

  13. Narine, I apparently know more about tennis than you do as my predictions came to fruition “whoever wins between Clijsters and Venus will win the US Open” Clijsters is the champ. THe best match of the US Open was the semi-final between Clijsters and Williams….a 3 set thriller. You missed that call to,,,,you said it wouldn’t even go three sets.

    Top players can win grand slam titles. Marija, Montreal is a $2M tournament which is relative in size. Not bad, however it’s smaller than Indian Wells, Madrid, & Miami. On the size of Cincinnati. However, the grand slam is when all the best show up. It’s the test of physical and mental athleticism. It’s what the players go down in history for. Kim’s name is etched in history in 2010, not Wozniaki. She was truly over rated as Dinara Safina was last year…..totally slamless!

  14. Marine/Marija, the year end championships in Doha start On Oct. 26th. The top 8 players of the season will play each other round robin style for $1M. Wozniaki made the draw along with Clijsters, Zvonereva, Venus, Serena, Schiavone, Stosur and Jankovic…the opportunity for you and Wozniaki to prove herself. Let’s wait and see! I will come back to the blog again.

  15. Denise, it’s apparent that Kim is much greater champion than Caroline, but Caroline’s success shouldn’t be underestimated and ridiculed.

  16. Of course Kim has achieved much more than Caroline but you have to take into consideration that there is 7 years age difference btw the two. When Caroline is her age who knows what her accomplishments will be. I think she can make it big. She has the ability and is not a headcase unlike poor Vera Zvonareva.

  17. Marine, yeah I was pleasantly surprised to see Caroline being so easy-going even though she was top seed at a Grand Slam for the first time. She didn’t evaporate but rather had an amazing run to the semis.

  18. Denise, it’s true that Wozniacki has mostly disappointing results against the players you named, either no wins at all, or at best a tied career record. I am not trying to say that Wozniacki is the best player out there, although I thought she could win the US Open this time, but I am trying to say that her 2010 results shouldn’t be thought of as “meh, nothing” because they certainly are a great achievement.

  19. If someone evaporated (big time) it was Vera Zvonareva. Caroline is one of the most successful players this season although she is not a step ahead of everyone else. I think women’s tennis does not have such a undisputed leader as in the past. Rather than that there’s a group of players with very consistent results.

  20. Marine, yes, the same old story is coming up over and over again. Yes there are no real leaders nowadays, and yes the likes of Safina, Wozniacki and a lot of others can’t even be compared to the careers of the Williams sisters for example. However, it does not mean that they bring nothing to the game of tennis. I believe they do add a lot of value even if they do not win Slams, at least not yet. But Denise is right, as things stand now, most of those players will be forgotten if they don’t win a Slam.

  21. The undisputed leader in women’s tennis is Serena Williams. Without a doubt. When she is out of the tournament, it’s anybody’s tournament to win….including Wozniaki!

  22. I got three yes-es? Wow, that is like in American Idol :-D! I think over time, of course, many players will fade away from people’s memory. Then again not winning a slam does not mean they will necessarily end up like that. Ana Kournikova left the game a long time ago and whenever she re-appears everyone seems to remember her 🙂
    I think that the consistent players like Caro or Dinara are very needed at WTA. Dinara has not unfortunately win a slam (yet) but she did her best when it comes to what a no1 player in the world should be doing- she put her best effort to every tournament she entered.

  23. Haha that’s true, Kournikova will definitely not be forgotten, although not many people remember her tennis results. 😛

    As for Safina, I like her personality and enjoy watching her play, I agree she brings a lot to the Tour, as well as many other Slamless players.

  24. 2010 has been a very difficult year for Safina, and too disappointing, but nevertheless, I said I like Safina’s personality and she has brought a lot of drama, character and thrilling matches to the Tour.

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