Tennis: Serena Williams surges to make US Open semifinals

Pumped American star Serena Williams fights back to beat Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova. Photo / AP

They were just two particular points from Serena Williams' latest three-set comeback at the US Open tennis tournament in New York, yet they were pivotal and consisted of the sorts of lengthy exchanges filled with athleticism and brilliance that in any other, non-pandemic year would be marked by thousands of folks rising to their feet for delirious roars and raucous applause.

She needed both of these points, one of which included a shot she hit left-handed, to reverse a deficit that reached the scale of a set and a break after 45 minutes of her quarter-final against Tsvetana Pironkova in an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Williams needed both of these points during a five-game, match-altering run — along with 20 aces, her most in a match in eight years — to end up on the right side of a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 score after more than two hours to get to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for an 11th consecutive appearance.

"It's not how you start, it's how you finish, right?" Williams said.

Two more victories would allow her to claim a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title.

"In the beginning, I was a little fatigued, for whatever reason," Williams said. "Obviously, I can't do that if I want to keep winning, so I need to figure that out."

How big an upset would this have been if Pironkova had held on? Not only is she not seeded at Flushing Meadows, she doesn't even appear in the WTA rankings at all — this was her first tournament of any sort in more than three years, because she left the tour to become a mother.

"It's unbelievable," Williams said about Pironkova's impressive return to competition. "Wow. I couldn't even do that."

The American, who turns 39 in less than three weeks, has won six US Open championships; she was the runner-up the past two years. Williams last lost before the semifinals in New York in 2007, when Justine Henin eliminated her in the quarter-finals.

Williams will face Victoria Azarenka, who returned to the US Open semifinals for the first time since 2013 by overwhelming Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-0. Williams leads her head-to-head series against Azarenka 18-4, including beating her in the 2012 and 2013 finals in New York. It was in a 2012 match against Azarenka at Wimbledon that Williams last topped 20 aces, producing 24.

The other women's semifinal will be 2018 champion Naomi Osaka against No 28 seed Jennifer Brady.

In the men's quarter-finals today, 2019 runner-up Daniil Medvedev beat No 10 Andrey Rublev 7-6 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (5) to return to the final four. Medvedev hasn't dropped a set in the tournament and will face second-seeded Dominic Thiem.

Thiem advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win over Alex de Minaur.

None of the remaining men has won a Grand Slam title, and they all have their best chance with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic not standing in their way.

- AP