Venus To Meet Kim in Semis

Francesca Schiavone won her first Grand Slam at Roland Garros this summer at age 29. The gutsy Italian figured she could win her second major at the U.S. Open as long as someone else took out the other 30-year old with the same aspirations.

Unfortunately Plan A did not work. So, on Tuesday, Schiavone and Williams went at it for the 8th time in their successful careers and the result was the same as in the seven previous meetings.

Venus Williams advanced to the semis with a hard-fought straight set win 7-6(5), 6-4. The third seeded Williams has been quietly mowing down opponents without losing a set, but she has been generally overlooked in title debates.

Venus has worn one new tennis outfit in each of her five matches. Discussions about her flashy attire have been more prominent than discussions about her tennis. Tuesday, Venus reported that she had brought seven outfits for this year’s tournament; one for each day.

Kim Clijsters, the defending champion at Flushing Meadows, may have something to say and do about that. The 2nd seeded Belgian overcame tough Australian 5th seed Samantha Stosur in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and will oppose Venus in the semifinals.

The gusty winds made play extremely difficult on Tuesday. It was difficult to hit accurate groundstrokes, difficult to get a good ball toss and difficult to control the serve. For big servers, like Stosur and Williams, the wind may have seemed a neutralizer of sorts but everyone who played was affected by the powerful gusts.

In the battle of 30-year olds, Williams needed one hour fifty-four minutes to dispose of Francesca, Williams took the offense from the start but Schiavone is always comfortable in the retriever’s role.

In the first set tiebreaker, Williams jumped out to an early 4-0 lead only to have the persistent Italian chase her down and square the breaker at 4-4. Williams pressed a little harder and won 3 of the next 4 points.

In the second set, Venus attacked serve and managed two early breaks only to have Francesca answer back on both occasions. Williams gained her third and final break in the final game.

Kim Clijsters

The second seeded Clijsters continued her 18 match win streak at Flushing Meadows against a composed Samantha Stosur who relies heavily on her big spin serve and her powerful forehand. In the see-saw match, Stosur was up a break at 4-2 in the first and seemed well in control until Clijsters released two punishing forehands that seemed to ignite the Belgian.

After winning the opening set with a four game run, Kim surrendered an early break in the second and Stosur was serving for the set at 5-4. Clijsters managed a critical break only to be broken again herself. The second chance was all Stosur needed as she served out the set.

The wind was so strong that neither player could hold serve in the third set. The first six games were all broken. Clijsters managed a key hold at 4-3 and then broke the struggling Stosur for the fourth time in the set. When Clijsters served out, she joined Venus as the second player in the semis.

Clijsters has defeated the last seven top ten players she has faced. Kim and Venus have split the twelve matches they have played, but Kim has won the last four matches.

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