The women’s US Open semi-finals form the singles schedule on the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night when four women step onto the court to fight for a place in the final of the last Grand Slam of the year.
The women’s draw this year has thrown up some amazing storylines and the beauty of it is even at the semi-final stage we are guaranteed a maiden Grand Slam winner with the four remaining women having yet to lift one of the sport’s major titles.
Leylah Fernandez vs Aryna Sabalenka
The opening semi-final sees two women who are polar opposites in their style colliding in what feels like it could be an epic contest when the teenager Leylah Fernandez takes on the second seed Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the final on Saturday.
Fernandez has been a breath of fresh air in this tournament and has seen off three of the greats of the modern game in Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Elina Svitolina. What I’ve liked about those victories is they have all gone to a final set where he level has been better in the decider than at any stage in the match. That gives off the impression that she can play under intense pressure and isn’t going to go away. Sabalenka is beginning to look the real deal herself but she’s the favourite to win the title now and that brings her own pressure and it is a situation she hasn’t been in before. It will be interesting to see how that goes but I would be surprised if that doesn’t ensure a tight match here. Fernandez will make Sabalenka play that extra ball and there will be times the Belarussian messes it up but then there will be others where her weight of shot blows Fernandez away. We’re set for a cracking semi-final here and one which I think will go over 20.5 games.
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Emma Raducanu vs Maria Sakkari
The second semi-final will have the eyes of Great Britain on it as the teenage superstar in waiting Emma Raducanu bids to become a Grand Slam finalist when she takes on Maria Sakkari who has oozed competitiveness and quality in the second part of this tournament.
Raducanu has been exemplary in this tournament so far. She is now up to eight wins if you include her qualifying run and she still hasn’t dropped a set. She has fallen behind in her last two matches but hasn’t panicked and when she has found her stride she has blown her opponents away. The latest of those was the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic to really make people stand up and take notice. This might be her toughest test though because there isn’t a weakness in the Sakkari game. The only slight issue is that 3:30hr epic Sakkari played against Bianca Andreescu on Monday but that didn’t hamper her against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday as she blew the Wimbledon finalist away. Nerves might be the only thing that holds Sakkari back here. We saw her choke in the semi-final of the French Open earlier in the season and that is a concern. All known logic would suggest that Raducanu has met her match here but we’ve said that all week. Perhaps there is something about playing with freedom like the teenager is. The time will come when she realises where she is and then she might look a little flat. It might be here it might not. Either way I don’t really want to trust Sakkari even though I think she’ll win. I don’t want to oppose her either so I’ll leave this one alone.
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