Williams and Stosur book their places in semi-finals

SERENA Williams overcame a difficult first set to advance to the US Open semi-finals with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Williams, the 28th seed but the favourite to win at Flushing Meadows, lost serve three times in the opening set as the first six games went against serve before the American got on track, breaking the 17th-seeded Russian in the 12th game to end the opening set.

Three-time winner Williams, who has yet to lose a set, got on a roll after that, losing just three points on serve in the second set, which last only half an hour. She ended the 79-minute match with her sixth ace to move two wins away from her 14th Grand Slam title. “I had a few errors in the beginning,” Williams told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd after the quarter-final. “But I’m happy that I’m through and I’m really excited.”

The 29-year-old American, playing just her sixth tournament this year after being sidelined by injuries and health concerns, will play either top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or 10th seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the last four.

Australia’s Sam Stosur overpowered Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals, where she will face Italian Flavia Pennetta or unseeded German Angelique Kerber. Stosur, who survived two epic three-set matches to reach the quarter-finals for the second straight year, extended her winning streak over Zvonareva to eight matches with an impressive display.

Zvonareva, who made the final last year and was seeded second this time, had no answer to Stosur’s powerful serve as she become the first Australian woman to reach the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows since Wendy Turnbull in 1984.