A month after winning Seoul, third seed Caroline Wozniacki went to the Kremlin Cup title by defeating Urszula Radwanska in the second round, then twice surviving a failure to serve out against fifth seed and defending champion Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals, then again not serving it out in the second set of the semifinal against Sofia Arvidsson but winning in two hours and 34 minutes in three sets, and then finally beating Samantha Stosur 6-2 4-6 7-5.

At Wozniacki leading 6-2 4-3, Stosur won five straight games, including breaking the Dane to love at the start of the third set. Stosur was even leading 3-1 in the decider, but dropped her serve in the sixth game and was broken decisively in the 12th after two hours and 13 minutes.

Wozniacki has won $122,000 in prize money in her first Premier-level title since New Haven 14 months ago. It’s Wozniacki’s 20th career title and she’s the fourth active player after Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova to have that many. Moreover, 13 of those titles are Premier and 7 are International. Wozniacki is now 20-11 in WTA finals, while Stosur is 3-12. (photo: sr_cranks)

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 »

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 »

After winning the second set, Samantha Stosur raised our hopes that she could finally beat Victoria Azarenka for the first time in their seven meetings, and in the thrilling third set she recovered from 1-3 down to 4-4 and from a devastating 0-4 in the tiebreak to 5-5. But with a nice drop shot, world No.1 Azarenka earned her first match point and finished the job right away, 6-1 4-6 7-6(5).

After just nine minutes of play in the first quarterfinal of the 2012 US Open, top seed Azarenka raced to a 3-0 lead facing the defending champion, against whom she was victorious in straight sets in all their six previous meetings. The rain then started falling and play was suspended for one hour and 17 minutes, but when the match resumed Azarenka just continued where she started and eased through the first set 6-1. The seventh-seeded Stosur was determined to stop the unfavorable tradition and won her first set against Azarenka in 14 tries, when a crucial break in the seventh game of the second set earned her a confidence-boosting win over Azarenka, whose 2012 record on hard surfaces coming into the match was an astonishing 30-2, while at this US Open her scorelines leading up to the quarterfinals look like this: 6-0 6-1, 6-2 6-2, 6-0 6-1, 6-2 6-2. As described in the introduction, Azarenka had the edge in the third set and is now 7-0 career against Stosur.

Azarenka's semifinal opponent will be either Maria Sharapova or Marion Bartoli, whose quarterfinal is now suspended due to rain. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)