It's a strange wind blowing over the WTA professional tour. As it happened at Wimbledon, the world No. 1 will change hands (from Pliskova to Muguruza), and the soon-to-be new holder is out of the equation regarding the ongoing tournament. And that leads to a unique picture of women's singles draw as the semis are set to be all-American encounters, something that is so rare in today's tennis. Venus Williams, 37, is the only one who has been there before, while the other three are making the debut play in the last four stages at Flushing Meadows.
While Garbine Muguruza is set to become the new world No. 1 next Monday when the ranking will be updated, one of these four Americans (Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Coco Vandeweghe or Madison Keys) will wake up that morning as a 2017 Us Open champion.
Venus Williams to face Sloane Stephens
Seeking to reach her third Grand Slam final of 2017, Venus Williams has to get past Sloane Stephens who chose the North American outdoor hard season to make a surreal comeback. There is only one match as a head-to-head stats between these two as Stephens topped Williams in the round of 128 at the 2015 French Open. Their upcoming clash will be a bit different being played on a hard court. Moreover, Venus seems to have the upper hand as she has more experience when it comes to tackling a difficult puzzle like a US Open semifinal.
Aged 24, Sloane Stephens, has had a tremendous summer swing as her ranking surged even before US Open as a consequence of her two deep runs in Toronto and later in Cincinnati. Now, she is one step away from reaching her maiden Grand Slam final. At the other end, Venus pushes for a historical US Open bid. She will try to capture her first title in New York 16 years after her 2001 success.
Madison Keys takes on Coco Vandeweghe one more time
Aged 22, Madison Keys seems to have regained her lost mojo. She had to deal with some injuries a while ago, but now she is definitely in the zone. Reaching her first semis in New York, she will face her fellow countrywoman and friend Coco Vandeweghe in what will be their third meeting of this summer.
Keys won the previous two (Stanford and Cincinnati). Still, Vandeweghe may try to find a new viable path as she consolidates her overall numbers in 2017. This is the second Grand Slam semis for the 25-year-old, and maybe she can go at least one step further. Defeating Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals, Coco did the same type of job as back in January at the Australian Open when she got past Angelique Kerber (the world No. 1 at the time) en route to the semis.
