New York: Former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki reached her second US Open semifinal in two years after easing past an injured Anastasija Sevastova 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinal, here on Tuesday.
Starting the tournament down at No.74, Wozniacki has defeated two Top 10 players in Svetlana Kuznetsova and Madison Keys, and will face an old foe in No.2 seed Angelique Kerber, who is aiming to earn the No.1 ranking Wozniacki herself held for 67 weeks.
"It feels great," she told the press after the win. "It's a tournament that I love. I love being here. I love playing in this incredible stadium."
Meanwhile, Kerber advanced earlier in the day against 2015 finalist Roberta Vinci, winning, 7-5, 6-0, to reach her second career US Open semifinal.
Kerber struck 33 winners to 25 unforced errors during the match, while Vinci hit 17 winners to 32 unforced errors.
"I think I have right now more confidence going out there," Kerber said in her post-match press conference, according to wtatennis.com. "I'm not thinking about quarters, semis, or whatever. I'm just going there to playing a good match and to win. I know that I can beat everybody, and this is what gives me also a lot of confidence and motivation for going out there and playing with a lot of emotion."
Monfils storms into last four stage
Meanwhile, Gael Monfils got the better of Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory on Arthur Ashe Stadium, reaching his first US Open semi-final.
“I'm happy with my performance. I think it is never easy to play a quarter-final against a French guy. I think I handled it pretty good mentally,” Monfils said, according to atpworltour.com. “I'm happy with that and where my game is.”
He will now meet the winner of the quarterfinal match between World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Juan Martin del Potro, meanwhile, will need to defeat his fourth-seeded opponent of this year’s US Open when he meets Australian Open and Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka for a place in the semi-finals.
In Wednesday’s other semi-final, second seed and 2012 champion Andy Murray takes on 2014 runner-up, No. 6 seed Kei Nishikori.
