The 2017 Us Open Tennis Championships are approaching their final act. The women's draw got thinner after yesterday's session with Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams advancing into an all American semifinal at Flushing Meadows. Aged 37, Venus Williams may eventually win that elusive Grand Slam she has been craving for years. A Grand Slam runner-up twice in 2017, Williams edged Petra Kvitova in what was a thrilling three set encounter that needed a tie-break to decide the whole thing. A similar scenario happened to Sloane Stephens who skidded past Anastasija Sevastova to move in the final four.
It'll be interesting to watch if they'll be able to maintain the same level of intensity in the semis.
Venus Williams scored only her second win over Kvitova
Entering the match, the 27-year-old Czech tennis star seemed to have the upper hand especially after dispatching Garbine Muguruza in the previous round. Moreover, she was leading Venus by 4-1 in head to head stats. On the other side, Williams didn't take any of those facts into account, and after recovering from a break deficit in the early stages of the match, she stormed to a one set lead. But Kvitova didn't panic, managing to level the sheet after winning the next set. It all went down to a tie-break in the third set -- a decider where Venus Williams was the better player, outpacing Kvitova to secure a spot in the semis.
It's been seven years since she made her last appearance that far in the women's singles contest at Flushing Meadows, so the emotional burden must be heavy.
Sloane Stephens keeping alive her comeback story
The 24-year-old American tennis player is on the verge of doing something truly amazing. Starting the summer ranked outside the top 500, she has been soaring up the ranking at a staggering pace, especially after reaching the semis in Toronto and Cincinnati.
But the cherry on top is the 2017 US Open bid where she is into her first ever semifinal in New York and only the second one of her entire career.
She had to deal with Anastasija Sevastova for a place in the lion's box where Venus Williams awaits. Against the Latvian, she started well winning the opening act only to see her opponent racing from behind to capture the next set.
The third set put Stephens in a dangerous position after she lost her serve. Bouncing back immediately helped her to push the encounter into a tie-break where some unforced errors from the Latvian eased her bid into the next phase of the tournament.
