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Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters survive the 2010 U.S. Open women's semifinals and will meet for the title on Saturday.
No Americans are left standing in the field for the 2010 U.S. Open, but on the women's side, at least, there's still a sentimental favorite alive: No. 2 Kim Clijsters battled back from a one-set deficit to win a second-set tiebreaker and went on to defeat Venus Williams, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4. The 2009 champ, one of the great comeback stories in sport, will be a clear audience favorite when she faces No. 7 Vera Zvonareva for the title Saturday.
Court conditions continued to be a factor in play today; a turn serving from the north end of the court was seemingly a surefire ticket to multiple double faults. Venus was visibly demoralized after losing the second-set tiebreaker thanks to a series of errors, and simply stood still as Clijsters landed her match point knockout.
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Venus Williams beat Kim Clijsters, 6-4, in the first set of their semifinal match at the 2010 U.S. Open Friday. Williams only needed a single break to take a commanding lead. Williams' serve seems to be on (John McEnroe keeps raving about it).
Vera Zvonareva is known for melting down. Epically. After falling in the singles and doubles finals at Wimbledon this July, she cried on the court. Battling knee problems in the fourth round of the 2009 U.S. Open, she blew six match points against Flavia Pennetta and lost in three sets. Again, water works.
But Friday was different. The seventh-seeded Russian coolly defeated No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 6-4, in the first women's semifinal of the 2010 U.S. Open. Zvonareva still hasn't lost a set during the tournament. At 5-foot-7, she's not known as a powerful server, but she was only broken once by Wozniacki, who looked strangely tight throughout. Zvonareva mixed things up, hitting drop shots and coming to net on occasion. The approach worked.
She'll play the winner of the Venus Williams/Kim Clijsters match Saturday. It's Zvonareva's second straight Grand Slam final.
Bit of a surprise so far. Russian Vera Zvonareva, showing no signs of nervousness, took the first set from Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4, in their 2010 U.S. Open semifinal match Friday. It's the first set Wozniacki has dropped the entire tourney.
Wozniacki has at times seemed like she's pushing Zvonareva around the court, but she's been undone by errors.
Bob and Mike Bryan beat the Indo-Pak Express, Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Hag Qureshi, 7-6, 7-6, to capture the 2010 U.S. Open doubles crown Friday. The chest-bumping Bryans, who have to be the most goofily demonstrative tennis players of all time, now have 65 titles together. (Earlier this summer, they broke the career record for doubles titles set by Aussies Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.)
The Bryan Bros., now eight-time Grand Slam champions, are about as close as you'd expect. L. Jon Wertheim profiled them for Sports Illustrated this spring.
Handsome, smart and personable as they are, the Bryans naturally have long track records of dating. Nevertheless, at a time when their friends, such as Fish and Andy Roddick, are "falling one by one" (the Bryans' words), Mike and Bob are unmarried. For many of their girlfriends, the "twin thing" has been insurmountable. As one former girlfriend put it, "It's hard to be in a relationship with someone when, no matter what happens, you know that you're not going to be the most important person in his life."
Chastened by history, the Bryans began putting their cards on the table at the beginning of relationships, giving new girlfriends a "here's the deal" talk. Bob's went something like this: "The travel can beat up this relationship. There will be times we'll see each other only on Skype. And there's the whole twin deal. I doubt it's like anything you've experienced, and it can be pretty intense. Just want you to know what you're getting into."
The women's semifinals are on tap at the 2010 U.S. Open. Caroline Wozniacki will play Vera Zvonareva in the first match of the day at Arthur Ashe Stadium Friday afternoon. Next, Venus Williams will take on Kim Clijsters. The winners will face off Saturday night in the final.
Tune in to CBS from 12:30-6 p.m. for live coverage.
After a windy Day 11, here are a few matches worth checking out on Day 12:
Not before 1:30 p.m., Arthur Ashe
No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) vs. No. 7 Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
Meet Grandpa the spider monkey. Like Paul the Octopus, he's good at picking winners. The Wall Street Journal's Nando Di Fino discovered him at Staten Island Zoo's new sports book.
Similar to how Paul picked his games-he would choose from two boxes containing mussels, each marked with the competition's flags-Grandpa picks from two tennis balls in his exhibit every morning, each one labeled with a player competing that day. Whichever ball Grandpa grabs first is his call for the winner.
But Grandpa the Greek, who's 34 by the way, was wrong about Zvonareva. After starting his career 4-0, he picked against her this week.
Today, he's trying to extend his streak by, uh, predicting an upset: 31st-seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi over No. 7 Vera Zvonareva in the women's quarterfinals. Check back here for coverage of their afternoon match and the rest of the Open.
UPDATE: Zvonareva won her match in straight sets, marring Grandpa's perfect record. Bad monkey!
The lesson here is to never listen to a spider monkey, unless is name is Mojo.
Anyway, Zvonareva, a Wimbledon finalist, has a 2-2 record against Wozniacki. When they played in Montreal this summer, Wozniacki won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. I'm eagerly awaiting Grandpa's prediction.
Not before 3:30 p.m., Arthur Ashe
No. 3 Venus Williams (USA) vs. No. 2 Kim Clijsters (BEL)
Venus, who won back-to-back U.S. Opens in 2000 and 2001, isn't as accomplished a player as her younger sister Serena. But Venus, as this week's SI.com piece by S.L. Price proves, is a hell of a lot more interesting.
"Just because of my history, too, as the African-American," Williams said Sunday, recalling why she decided, last year, to publicly chastise the United Arab Emirates -- during the trophy ceremony in Dubai -- for barring Israeli player Shahar Peer from their tournament. "My parents both came from the South in the '40s and '50s and just -- you know, it was an outrage, really. Just like: Are you serious? Can you really exclude someone? This is professional tennis in 2010. We're all athletes here. We're not politicians or anything like that. So really, the feeling inside of me was just one of almost rage and discontent. Like: Is this for real?"
She was speaking about February 2009, when the UAE denied Peer a visa to play in its women's tournament, and defending men's champ Andy Roddick earned plaudits for pulling out of the men's draw in protest. Williams, in contrast, decided to play and took heat for that and won, but at the moment of truth -- before Arab royalty and plenty of others who agreed with Peer's absence -- she took the microphone during the trophy presentation and essentially called out the tournament and nation, called it, "a shame that one of our players couldn't be here."
The press hammers athletes for not being socially conscious enough. Venus, at the very least, has guts. But will that be enough against Clijsters Friday? I'm not sure. But here's some background:
Williams and Clijsters have split 12 career meetings. Clijsters beat Williams, 6-0, 0-6, 6-4, in the fourth round of the 2009 U.S. Open. The last time they played, in Miami this spring, Clijsters made quick work of Williams, 6-2, 6-1. (Clijsters has actually prevailed in their last four matches.)
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2010 U.S. Open Day 12: Down Goes Wozniacki! Down Goes Williams! Twins Win!
Highlights from Day 12 of the 2010 U.S. Open:
• MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan def. Rohan Bopanna/Aisam-Ul-Hag Qureshi, 7-6, 7-6.
God bless twins.
• No. 7 Vera Zvonareva def. No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 6-4.
Emo Zvonareva was a lie! The treachery of this woman knows no end.
• No. 2 Kim Clijsters def. No. 3 Venus Williams, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
True fact: It is, in fact, acceptable to cheer for Clijsters in the finals, because the last time she was here she totally gave birth ON THE COURT DURING A MATCH, and what's more American than that?
For more U.S. Open coverage, visit SB Nation's Daily Forehand.
Sep 10 8:49p by Holly Anderson - 0 comments