US Open Day 9 Roundup: Serena, Djokovic and Cilic notch wins, Hingis-Mirza in semis

Serena Williams needed three sets to beat her sister Venus and progress to the semis

Williams v. Williams

Number 1 seed Serena Williams went through a nervy clash against her in-form older sibling Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles event of the US Open, but put all her emotions aside as she managed to come out on top with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The junior Williams looked solid as she won the first set in no time but was broken twice in the second set by the senior Williams to set-up the match for a tense ending. Despite the minor setback, the 33-year-old favourite raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set before serving out the final game for a three-set victory.

Serena continues her amazing 79-1 record in US Open matches whenever she wins the first set and looks the most likely to become the first player to seal a calendar grand slam since 1988. She will take on the unseeded doubles expert Roberta Vinci for a place in the final after the Italian held off a stiff challenge from Kristina Mladenovic to reach her first ever Grand slam singles semi-final with a 6-3, 5-7, 4-6 win.

Djokovic and Cilic to meet in semis after scraping through quarters

Novak Djokovic was made to work really hard to qualify for the semi-finals of the US Open. The 28-year-old Serbian was roared on by the fans as he endured 2 hours and 38 minutes of pulsating play against 18th seed Feliciano Lopez at the Flushing Meadows, eventually winning 6-1 3-6 6-3 7-6.

After convincingly serving out the first set 6-1, the Serbian world number 1 was given a scare by the Spaniard’s huge serving ability in the second set and went on to lose that 3-6. He fought his way back and picked up the third set 6-3, although he had to wait for a while to end the match as the final sent went into a tie-break.A tired looking Lopez couldn’t handle it anymore though, as he gave five points away to the reigning Wimbledon champion to lose his first ever US Open quarter-final.

Novak will take on ninth seed and reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic, who is on course to defend his title after winning an exciting and physically draining 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4 win against France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The big-serving Croat raced to a two-set lead and looked set to finish the match, but he was pegged back by the 19th seed who had other ideas altogether. Tsonga played some big shots and looked like a completely different specimen in the third set, finally breaking Cilic at 3-4 and going on to force a fourth set in the match. He looked set to lose the tie while serving at 4-5, 0-30 in the fourth set, but managed to stave off four match points from his opponent to take the match into the decisive fifth set.

Cilic finally ended the 30-year-old Frenchman’s resurgence by winning the final set 6-4 to move on to the semi-finals, keeping intact his fantastic record of never having lost a match when holding a two-set lead.

Doubles action

Wimbledon doubles champions Hingis and Mirza are now in the semis of the US Open

The top-seeded doubles pair of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza continued their surge towards a second consecutive grand slam title after seeing off Yung-Jan Chan and Hao-Ching Chan from Taipei with a 7-6, 6-1, straight-sets victory. The pair found themselves 5 games down in the first set but ultimately finished the set and match strongly to ensure a safe passage to the semi-finals.

11th seeded Italian pair Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta were the other duo to move on to the semis after beating Lara Arruabarrena and Andreja Klepac in three sets 6-0, 5-7, 6-2.

In men’s doubles action, the British-Australian duo of Jamie Murray and John Peers took three sets to beat fourth seeds Matkowski-Zimonjic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6. They will be joined in the semi-finals of the US Open by the French number 12 seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who were efficient in their 7-6 6-4 win over Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

Mixed doubles pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lukasz Kubot reached the semi-finals of the US Open mixed doubles with a 6-4 6-4 victory over the more fancied duo of Anastasia Rodionova and Max Mirnyi, while Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey took three sets to see off sixth seeds Yaroslava Shvedova and Juan Sebastian Cabal in a 3-6, 6-4, [10]-[6] win.