US Open results 2017: Sloane Stephens through to final after beating Venus Williams

Sloane Stephens is through to the 2017 US Open final after beating Venus Williams in a three-set semifinal matchup on Thursday, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5. It was a hard-fought match with several breaks for each player. Now Stephens will go on to the final where she’ll await Thursday’s other semifinal result.

Stephens, 24, is one of the bright, young players in women’s tennis. She reached a career high singles ranking of 11th in the world, but is unseeded at the US Open due to a significant foot injury that required surgery and forced her out of play earlier in the year. Prior to this run in the US Open, she was well-known for her win over Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Australian Open.

Now she should be well known for that ridiculous third set against Williams, where she hit some of the best shots anybody has made this year. When Williams walked off the court, Stephens stood and gave her a standing ovation.

Williams, 37, was playing in her first US Open semifinals since 2010. She’s experienced a nice career resurgence in 2017, making it to the finals of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, but she failed to win in both tournaments.

The first set was dominant, with Williams managing to hold on her first service game but losing every one after that to drop the set with only a single game won. She the roared back in the second and didn’t even allow Stephens to hold serve a single time.

In the third, things were very competitive. Stephens started out by breaking Williams and then held serve to take a 2-0 lead in the set. But Williams managed to hold on her next serve, break Stephens, then hold again to put things back on serve. Stephens held, then managed to break Williams, who came right back to break Stephens to put things back on serve again.

On Williams’ next serve, Stephens made two incredible shots to go up 30-0 in the game. She went on to hold onto that lead and broke Williams. She was then serving for the set, and she did it, securing the win.

The other semifinal matchup will see No. 15 Madison Keys take on No. 20 CoCo Vandeweghe. Both women are also Americans, like Williams and Stephens, comprising an All-American semifinal, and accordingly, a final. It’s the first time since 1985 that four American women played in a single semifinal at a Grand Slam event.

And this is all without Serena Williams even taking part in the slam due to her pregnancy. Vandeweghe and Keys will face each other on Thursday evening.

The men’s semifinals will take place on Friday, with the women’s final on Saturday and men’s final on Sunday to close out the tournament. Rafael Nadal, the top seed, will take on Juan Martin del Potro in one of the men’s semifinals. The other will see Pablo Carreno Busta take on Kevin Anderson.

You can find updated results and the schedule for the men’s singles bracket here and the women’s singles bracket here.