Belinda Bencic advances to U.S. Open semifinals
Swiss upstart will play Canada's Bianca Andreescu
Belinda Bencic wore down Donna Vekic and advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory Wednesday at the U.S. Open in New York.
Trailing 3-2 in the set, that sent her into the lead and Vekic never recovered, with Bencic winning the final four games to surpass her 2014 run to the U.S. Open quarter-finals for her best performance in a major tournament.
"I just really like the challenge," she said of playing in big matches. "I think some players are a little bit afraid of the big courts, but for me it's more motivation."
Bencic advanced to play either No. 15 Bianca Andreescu or No. 25 Elise Mertens on Thursday night. Six-time U.S. Open champion Serena Williams faces fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the other semifinal.
On the men's side, Rafael Nadal tried to make sure the U.S. Open had one member of the Big Three in the semifinals when he faced No. 20 Diego Schwartzman on Wednesday night. No. 13 Gael Monfils of France and No. 24 Matteo Berrettini were playing in the other quarter-final.
WATCH | Belinda Bencic closes out Donna Vekic:
Vekic, seeded 23rd, was also seeking her first semifinal in a major tournament. But with her face bright red as the sun beat down on Arthur Ashe Stadium, she couldn't keep up with her friend's power during the biggest moments of the match.
"I think she was just playing better tennis overall today," Vekic said. "I felt like I couldn't get three good points together. I was, like, playing one point good, then bad."
It was Bencic who cracked first, missing an easy putaway on game point while serving at 4-all in the first set. She momentarily seemed to lose focus, as Vekic then won the next three points to break for a 5-4 lead.
But Bencic broke right back to even it again and eventually they headed to a tiebreaker, where the 22-year-old Bencic has thrived this season. Trailing 2-1, she ran off five of the next six points before eventually wrapping it up to improve to 10-2 in tiebreakers this season.
Vekic recovered to take a 3-2 lead in the second set, but that 10-point fifth game seemed to take a little out of her, with Bencic running off the next eight points to seize the lead.
Nadal gets by Schwartzman
Rafael Nadal kept pulling away in his U.S. Open quarter-final, then getting reeled back in by Diego Schwartzman.
In the first set, Nadal led 4-0 before Schwartzman got to 4-all. In the second, Nadal went up 5-1 before Schwartzman made it 5-all.
Took more than two hours just for those two sets. Eventually, both were claimed by Nadal. And so, ultimately, was the match and a berth in a 33rd Grand Slam semifinal for Nadal, who prevented Schwartzman from reaching his first by winning 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 after 12:30 a.m. Thursday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
WATCH | Nadal advances to semis:
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are both out of the bracket, but Nadal is still around, meaning at least one member of the Big Three is in the semis at a 62nd consecutive major tournament. That trio has combined to win the last 11 Slam trophies — and Nadal is going to be heavily favored to make that 12.
None of the other men left has played in a major final, let alone won one. Nadal, though, is closing in on a fourth championship at the U.S. Open and his 19th at all majors, which would move him only within one of Federer's record for men.
On Friday, Nadal will play No. 24 Matteo Berrettini, a 23-year-old from Rome who is Italy's first male semifinalist in New York since 1977. Berrettini barely got there, edging No. 13 Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday.
A year ago, it was Nadal whose body broke down: He retired from his semifinal against runner-up Juan Martin del Potro because of a bad knee.
This time, on a muggy night with the humidity above 50%, the left-hander raised some concern by having a trainer come out to rub a cream into that forearm during a changeover early in the third set. At the next changeover, Nadal flexed his right forearm and was visited again by the trainer, took a salt pill and guzzled some drinks, then shook that arm between points in the following game.
Whatever might have been wrong, Nadal managed to play his best when it mattered the most against the 20th-seeded Schwartzman, an Argentine serenaded by loud choruses of "Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!" by an audience that included former San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili.
Nadal came up with a service break in the last game of each of the opening two sets, then the last one he would need made it 4-2 in the third and he broke yet again to end it.
Now Nadal becomes Berrettini's problem.
Berrettini outlasts Monfils
Berrettini describes his mental coach as a big help and a best friend. They've been speaking on the phone before and after every match. And they certainly had plenty to chat about when it came to this latest victory.
Berrettini double-faulted away his initial match point and then needed four more to finally put away Monfils after nearly four hours.
"He told me, `I need to thank you, because I thought that everyone is born once and dies once. But during that match, I was born and died 15 or 16 times,"' Berrettini said about his conversation with the mental coach he's worked with for several years. "I collapsed and got back up. I collapsed and got back up. That match point. Those other chances. I was down then I came back. It's a great source of pride for me."
In truth, the denouement was hardly a thing of beauty, with both men, clearly spent, fighting themselves and the tension of the moment as much as the guy on the other side of the net.
WATCH | Berrettini beats Monfils in five-set battle:
Monfils finished with 17 double-faults but managed to avoid any throughout the entire, exhausting fifth set until he served at 6-5 — and then he had three in that game, plus another two in the deciding tiebreaker, often doubling over between points to rest and catch his breath.
"A very bad day for me, serving," Monfils said.
Berrettini acknowledged the obvious afterward, too, saying he felt "a little bit tight."
You think?
It all was a bit of a whir.
"Right now, I don't remember any points, just the (last) match point, you know?" he said. "I remember also the double-fault; I have to be honest."
With files from The Canadian Press