Serena overcomes Halep to continue bid for 7th U.S. Open title
Nishikori upsets Murray in 5-set marathon, Wawrinka beats Del Potro
Serena Williams' serve was broken for the first time at this year's U.S. Open. Twice, in fact. She dropped a set for the first time in the tournament, too, pushed to the brink by Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.
In a match filled with fantastic shotmaking and enthralling exchanges, neither player budged until Williams righted herself in the third set to emerge with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Halep on Wednesday night to get back to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows.
"I knew that I could play a lot better, and I felt like I kind of lost my rhythm a little bit in the second set. Also, Simona started playing really well. She kept going for shots, and she did what she needed to do," Williams said. "But I knew if I wanted to win this, I had to step it up in the third set."
Halep, the 2014 French Open runner-up who was seeded No. 5 in New York, staved off all 12 break points held by Williams in the second set and forced a third.
"I wasn't very happy about that, but I tried not to let that get me down," Williams said about all the chances she let slip away. "I tried to stay positive and I knew that if I did, I could just stay in the match."
Indeed, Williams converted the only break chance she would get — or need — in the deciding set to go ahead 3-1, and was on her way.
She finished with 18 aces, a 50-20 edge in total winners, and won the point on 26 of her 32 trips to the net.
Not bad for someone who entered the U.S. Open with questions about a sore right shoulder that began bothering her after she won Wimbledon in July.
Williams is bidding for her seventh title at Flushing Meadows and 23rd overall at a major tournament — both would be records for the Open era, which dates to 1968.
Wawrinka beats Del Potro to reach semis
Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka outlasted tiring former champion Juan Martin del Potro in four sets to advance to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open on Wednesday.
Twice grand slam winner Wawrinka ended the rousing comeback effort by the Argentine at Flushing Meadows with a 7-6(5) 4-6 6-3 6-2 win in this year's last grand slam.
Del Potro, the 2009 winner, had missed nine successive slams due to a string of wrist surgeries before returning to Wimbledon, where he ousted Wawrinka in the second round and went on to claim silver at the Rio Olympics.
Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open winner and 2015 French Open champion, will next meet sixth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, the 2014 Flushing Meadows runner-up, who upset world number two Andy Murray in five sets in their quarter-final.
Nishikori upsets Murray in 5-set marathon
Andy Murray lost his way, seven consecutive games and, eventually, his riveting five-set U.S. Open quarterfinal against Kei Nishikori after a loud noise from a malfunctioning sound system interrupted a key point, resulting in a do-over.
Whether or not the gong-like sound, and chair umpire Marija Cicak's let ruling, was the reason that Nishikori wound up coming back to win 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 on Wednesday, it surely will be what's most remembered about the back-and-forth, 4-hour match.
After all, Murray's extended discussions with Cicak and another official about the unusual episode came during a stretch in which he dropped 12 of 14 points.
He went from a lead of two sets to one, plus a break point at 1-all, to ceding the fourth set and trailing 2-0 in the fifth.
"I could have won the match for sure," said Murray, the No. 2 seed and 2012 champion at Flushing Meadows.
Despite all the fuss, Murray went ahead 5-4 in the fifth. But he wouldn't take another game. At 5-all, 30-all, Murray double-faulted to set up break point, and Nishikori converted by reaching for a stretch volley winner.
Murray slammed his racket against the net and cursed. Soon enough, his career-best run of reaching seven straight tournament finals was done.
"I would have loved to have gone further," Murray said, "but it wasn't to be today."
He had won 26 of his previous 27 matches, including a second Wimbledon championship and a second Olympic gold medal, beating Nishikori in straight sets in the semifinals at Rio de Janeiro.
This time, Nishikori came through, helped by a series of effective drop shots and an ability to keep his nerve over the closing three games.
"It was too exciting on the court, but I tried to stay calm," he said. "It was really tough to stay calm. ... There were many ups and downs."
He next faces the winner of Wednesday night's quarterfinal between 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro and No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka. The other men's semifinal Friday is No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 10 Gael Monfils.
Pliskova sheds underachiever label
In the women's quarterfinals, 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova easily eliminated the 18-year-old Konjuh 6-2, 6-2 in just 57 minutes to get to the final four at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
Pliskova, who saved a match point while defeating Venus Williams in the fourth round, will take a 10-match winning streak into Thursday's semifinals against Williams' sister Serena, or No. 5 Simona Halep.
Heading into the U.S. Open, Pliskova was the only current member of the top 20 in the WTA rankings who never had even been past the third round at a major.
"To be honest, I don't care at what time it came," Pliskova said. "I'm just happy that it's now and that it came."