All four spots in the women’s singles semifinals at the 2017 US Open are now occupied by American women. Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe and Madison Keys are all into the penultimate round after impressive runs through a bracket that was really only missing Serena Williams as far as big names go.
US Open 2017: 4 American women are in a Major semifinal for the first time since 1985
The US Open semifinals are comprised entirely of American women, and Serena Williams isn’t even in the field.
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
It’s the first time since 1985 that four American women have been in the semifinals at a Grand Slam.
And not since 2002 have American women been so prominent at the US Open. That year, five of the top six players were American, and this year is even more impressive. The fact that Williams is returning to the semifinals for the first time since 2010 and the fact that the other three are all young players with early career injury struggles make it even more impressive.
On Wednesday, Vandeweghe, the 20th seed, bested top seed Karolina Pliskova in straight sets to punch her ticket to the semifinal. There, she’ll meet Keys, who handled her business against Kaia Kanepi on Wednesday evening.
Williams, the ninth seed, made it past the very tough Petra Kvitova in her quarterfinal matchup. She’ll be taking on Stephens, a former seeded player who has been making a comeback from injury and who took down No. 16 Anastasija Sevastova the quarterfinals.
When the tournament started, much of the talk focused on Maria Sharapova, arguably the biggest name in women’s tennis aside from Serena and Venus. This was odd, given that Sharapova, an unseeded player, was participating in the event following a 15-month doping ban. She was expected to carry the headlines in a Grand Slam without Serena.
Sharapova played well and had some exciting matches, but Williams, Stephens, Vandeweghe and Keys have all stolen the show. They are the most compelling thing to happen in tennis this year, especially combined with the fact that the men’s bracket hasn’t been nearly as entertaining, with most of the top names out with injury.
Williams, Stephens, Vandeweghe and Keys will all be in action on Thursday, and you absolutely should tune in to watch them battle for a spot in the final at the year’s final Grand Slam.
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