Vera Zvonareva has joined Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters in the semifinals of the US Open with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Kaia Kanepi in the round of eight. Both Zvonareva and Kanepi were making their first appearance at that stage of the US Open.

The seventh-seeded Zvonareva attributed the win in the windy conditions in Arthur Ashe Stadium to her ability to find the right balance between "keeping the ball in play and going for your shots", as she said. Kanepi was apparently far from that balance, as she made 60 unforced.

In the beginning of the match the players traded breaks to make it 1-1, and in those first two games they made 12 unforced errors and only one winner. The final statistics of the match show a total of 88 unforced errors and only 28 winners, 18 scored by seed No.31 Kanepi.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki or Dominika Cibulkova will be Zvonareva’s opponent in the semifinals. (source: ESPN, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Rich from Down the Line has been busy visiting the pre-US Open events in New York, and the latest one he attended was the Taste of Tennis sponsored by BNP Paribas, where tennis stars joined a number of the world's top chefs for great food, a few cooking lessons and lots of partying all to benefit the New York Junior Tennis League.

Women’s tennis players spotted at the event were Victoria Azarenka, Christina McHale, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters. Rich interviewed most of them about tennis and food and we’re expecting him to share the video soon.

Update: As promised, here are Rich's interviews. Really professional, he did a great job.

The New York Times Magazine used various forms of media to show how power has changed women’s tennis. The feature including an article by Michael Kimmelman, extraordinary photos and awesome short slow motion videos by Dewey Nicks has attracted a lot of positive attention in the tennis world, so make sure to check it out.

The article mentions a number of women’s tennis players and their stories, the expansion of the WTA to the Chinese market, the increase in prize money and equal pay at Grand Slams, the difficulties tour pros (or "independent contractors" as Stacey Allaster, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, likes to call them) can face in earning a living, the influence of Serena and Venus Williams, etc.

The slideshow and videos include Serena Willams, Jelena Jankovic, Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva. I love how Dementieva's grace accompanies the delicate music of the video. Also, it's a nice surprise to see Sam looking like a ballet dancer. (via Down the Line)

American Coco Vandeweghe stunned third seed Vera Zvonareva in the second round of the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego, even though the Russian world No.9 dominated the first set and lead by a break early in the second and third sets. Final score: 2-6 7-5 6-4.

The 18-year-old Vandeweghe, ranked 205th in the world, has recorded only her third victory on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and it’s already a Top 10 one. Her second main draw win on the Tour came in the first round of the San Diego tournament, against Argentina’s Gisela Dulko.

In the quarterfinals of the $700,000 Mercury Insurance Open Vandeweghe will play another Russian, two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who toughed it out against Sara Errani 6-1 6-7(5) 7-5 in the second round. (photos by John Bolan)

Serena Williams didn’t waste much sweat at this year’s Wimbledon to defend her title, win her 13th Grand Slam singles crown and her fourth at the grass court major.

The world No.1 and top seed reached the final with all straight-set victories (over Michelle Larcher De Brito, Anna Chakvetadze, Dominika Cibulkova, seed No.16 Maria Sharapova, seed No.9 Li Na and Petra Kvitova). In the championships match she kept the momentum, and absolutely unchallenged by first-time Grand Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva stormed to a 6-3 6-2 victory.

The first set of the final went with serve until the eighth game when Zvonareva’s nerves and weakness surfaced, reflected in a double fault, the Russian’s first and sole double fault of the set. Williams, of course, didn’t miss her chance, broke Zvonareva's serve and soon after won the whole set. The second set ended even faster, in just 31 minutes, with Williams clearly on her way to victory. The American faced no break points throughout the championships match and hit nine aces, bringing her total of aces at Wimbledon 2010 to 89.

Zvonareva can be sad for not bringing more to the final, but the sole fact of playing at that stage of a Grand Slam is an achievement of its own, having in mind all the career-threatening injuries she has overcome. In addition, Zvonareva will get back to Top 10 in the world rankings, precisely to No.9, and a prize of half a million pounds is not a bad consolation as well.

Serena has yet again proved that all the other players on the Tour are way behind her. In addition, she has passed legend Billie Jean King in overall majors won. (photos via Yahoo)