Peng Shuai continued her superb form at the US Open as she marched into her first ever Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Belinda Bencic. Peng hit 24 winners to just 7 unforced errors as she secured the win in just 64 minutes. It was an uncomfortable watch as Bencic fell away at a rather rapid pace in the second set. Considering this was a Grand Slam quarter-final, there were very few people in the stands. It seemed that the majority had opted to watch the doubles match on Louis Armstrong stadium featuring the Williams sisters up against Makarova and Vesnina… which the Russian pair won!
Most recently, Peng has been enjoying success in the doubles, winning two Grand Slam doubles titles with Hsieh Su-wei and ascending to the top of the world rankings earlier this year. Without doubt, this has been Peng’s best ever week in singles and she fully deserves her place in the last four of the 2014 US Open. After defeating the number four seed, Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round, Peng has backed up the upset win with straight set victories over Roberta Vinci, Lucie Safarova and now Belinda Bencic. Peng hasn’t dropped more than four games in any of the five matches she has played this week. Her serve has improved tremendously and it has been a huge weapon for her this fortnight. She has also been extremely solid from the baseline, hitting plenty of winners through her five matches, but remaining consistent.
Peng will play either Caroline Wozniacki or Sara Errani in the semi-finals. The Chinese player follows in the footsteps of fellow compatriots, Li Na and Zheng Jie in reaching the final four of a Grand Slam.
This post was written by James of Moo’s Tennis Blog
Photo by Jimmie48 Tennis Photography
