Wozniacki gets past injured Sevastova to reach US Open SF

It will be a big step up for Wozniacki from her previous opponents – her biggest scalp thus far has been eighth seed Madison Keys – but the former World No.1 says she is confident she can defeat anyone.

The other semi-final is an equally attractive matchup pitting unseeded former world number one Caroline Wozniacki against second seed Angelique Kerber, who could leave NY with her second grand slam title and snatch Williams’ number one ranking.

A right-ankle injury sidelined 26-year-old Wozniacki for the best part of three months and her enforced absence from the French Open ended a streak of 36 successive appearances at the Majors.

“I think it is always hard to play against Roberta”.

“Even if I had no injury, it would’ve been tough to beat her”.

After missing the French Open between first round exits at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, expectations were low ahead of the final major tournament of the year, but Wozniacki has run into form in NY.

“I’ve rolled my ankle several times so I feel real sorry for her”.

“Because if I’m not in the top five I feel like it’s not where I want to be, so at that point, whether I’m 20 in the world or 100 in the world, it doesn’t matter because I’m going to play the same people anyway”.

She’s shown that she has the quality to make deep runs in big tournaments now and can mix it with the best.

Trailing 6-5, and serving at love-40, Vinci missed her first serve, then was called for a foot fault on a second serve.

Australian Open victor Kerber is eyeing Serena Williams’ world number one ranking and made relatively light work of Italy’s Vinci.

Defeated US Open quarter-finalist Roberta Vinci said Angelique Kerber was “on fire” after the German overcame three first set service breaks to secure a place in the last-four on Tuesday. The German leads their career head-t0-head 7-5. “It was a bumpy road”, she said.

“We have not taken any final decision, but as I understand her, it will not be a long career”, Piotr Wozniacki was quoted as saying.

After rallying from a set and a break down in her opening match and then coming back from 5-1 down in the third to beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka, Keys could not find a way past the former world number one, who clinched the match on her first match point. Also, I have so many friends here, so every day I have been going out for lunch or dinners and just kind of enjoyed the city, as well.

“She definitely gets some speed on it but her placement is really, really nice”.

“I think I was just a little extra focused”, Wozniacki said.

The four players’ Polish bond is evident in holiday photos and they remain as close as they can be in the cut-throat environment of professional tennis.

The most surprising aspect of the match was that Wozniacki backed up her serve with more vigilance.

Caroline Wozniacki, of Denmark, reacts after beating Monica Niculescu, of Romania, during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, in NY.

“She’s a great player”.

Kerber says she’s trying to deflate the pressure of possibly being No. 1 and only worrying about the next opponent. When it happens it will be incredible feeling, because that was also one of my dreams when I was a kid.