Semifinals are set at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo: Nadia Petrova vs. Sam Stosur and Angelique Kerber vs. Agnieszka Radwanska.

Nadia Petrova was the first to advance, with a massive 3-6 7-5 6-3 win over Sara Errani in two hours and 36 minutes. The Russian actually won one point less than her opponent in the tense match (101 to Errani's 102), but saved 7 of 12 break points, while Errani saved 7 of 13.

The encounter of Maria Sharapova and Sam Stosur followed. Both started strongly, with 100% of first serves won up to 2-2 40-15 for Stosur in the first set. However, there was an exchange of breaks for 4-4 and it was Stosur who held her serve then and broke Sharapova again in the end, for a perfect conversion of break points and 6-4. Read more »

An upset is always lurking when Lucie Safarova is in the game, and given her walkover relaxation in the second-round and Maria Sharapova’s hard labor against qualifier Heather Watson to reach the third round, the encounter of the Czech and the Russian promised a close battle. In the end, favorite Sharapova did advance, this time in not more than an hour and 45 minutes, 6-2 7-6(5), but only after surviving a comeback of 0-3 to 6-5 on the side of Safarova in the second set.

In the quarterfinals, the second-seeded Sharapova will face eighth seed Samantha Stosur, who beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 7-5. As for the other members of the final eight, Sara Errani won 12 of the last 15 games to recover from 3-6 0-1 and defeat Marion Bartoli 3-6 6-2 6-2. Her next opponent will be Nadia Petrova, who stopped Petra Martic, the conqueror of Petra Kvitova.

Top seed Victoria Azarenka beat Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-2 and will play Angelique Kerber, who lost just two games against Urszula Radwanska, 6-1 6-1. Agnieszka Radwanska is through to the quarters, with a 6-4 6-3 win over Jamie Hampton, while Caroline Wozniacki edged Li Na, who committed 76 unforced errors, 4-6 6-3 6-4. (photo: Tennis Buzz)

World No.78 Heather Watson came through qualifying, upset Sabine Lisicki 6-4 7-6(3) in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open and came very close to upsetting the 2009 champion Maria Sharapova in the second round, but the second-seeded Russian overcame 67 unforced errors and 14 double faults to win 6-7(7) 6-3 6-4 in three hours and nine minutes. The previous meeting of the two, last year at the US Open, was also a three-setter.

The exhausting match featured 14 breaks of serve. In the marathon first set, Watson came from a break down twice, while even in the tiebreak she was down, 3-0, and saved set points.

Sharapova holds the Tokyo tournament close to her heart since it was her first title in her resurgent year after shoulder injury. In the third round she will face tricky seed No.16 Lucie Safarova, who received a walkover when Klara Zakopalova withdrew with a left wrist injury. (via: BBC, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

After Grand Slams, you are used to our contributor Omair giving unofficial titles to players based on their performances, and for the recently-finished US Open he did the same, but with a little twist, he gave names to players inspired by animated movies. We hope you'll like it!

SERENA WILLIAMS – RANGO

Serena not only won her 15th major, but proved again that she is not done yet with tennis by winning the second straight Grand Slam and the Olympics in between. Serena lost a total of 19 games en route to the US Open final, where she was pushed hard by Victoria Azarenka, who even served for the championship in the third set, but Serena showed her superior class and experience to bring her opponent back to earth and win her fourth US Open title. In doing so, Serena showed everyone that "No man can walk out of his own story", just like Rango.

VICTORIA AZARENKA – VECTOR

Vector from "Despicable Me" tried in every way to let Gru down, but in the end he lost and Gru won. Azarenka gave everything she had, but she came up short to one of the best players in tennis history. Don’t take it negatively. By giving Azarenka the title of Vector, I don’t refer to the vicious methods Vector used in the movie, I am thinking of the positive side of it, that she fought with her whole heart and body, but in the end she had to satisfy herself with the runner-up trophy.

MARIA SHARAPOVA – TANGLED

Sharapova was not at her best in her last three matches, yet she never gave up, fighting hard to stay alive in the fourth round against Nadia Petrova, then in the quarters against Marion Bartoli, and then in the semis she finally got tangled in her service demons and succumbed to the pressure of Victoria Azarenka. Read more »

Grand Slam are always the most exciting venues for tennis glamour and the US Open is the unofficial fashion queen of all the four majors, so let's see what the best brands put on their brightest WTA stars.

Let's start this fashion overview with maybe not the biggest fashion star, but definitely the player who marked this US Open – Kim Clijsters, whose inspiring career has come to a close at her favorite tournament where she had lifted the trophy three times. To honor the Belgian's last event, her clothing sponsor Fila produced a special collection with a symbolic star pattern.

Ana Ivanovic (who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since her title win at Roland Garros 2008), Angelique Kerber (last year's semifinalist) and Laura Robson (besides Clijsters, the biggest story of the tournament) were all sporting Adidas Adizero. The bright yellow Adidas outfits may have ruled the US Open courts, and the three players mentioned here all played the fourth round, but the next brand we'll cover is clothing all the four semifinalists!

Of course, it's Nike! Champion Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova traditionally have both day and night dresses. Serena wore navy and pink with lime details, while Sharapova went for more subtle tones – liquid pink and solid dark without many loud contrasts.

PREVIOUS US OPEN FASHION OVERVIEWS

2011 - A look at the beautiful colors at Flushing Meadows
2010 - Fashion hits and misses of tennis in New York

Victoria Azarenka and Sara Errani prefer separates. The world No.1 is popping in a yellow and black combination, while the Italian, sharing the look with Julia Goerges, wore a pleated navy skirt with pink and yellow stripes and a tank. Read more »