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Battle for women's top ranking set to go down to the wire
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8th September, 2016
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Serena Williams has been confirmed for the Hopman Cup. (The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )
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Roar Guru
8th September, 2016
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The battle for the women’s world number one ranking will go all the way down to the wire, with top seed Serena Williams having successfully defended her points from last year’s US Open.

The 34-year-old reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows for the eighth consecutive time after seeing off the challenge of Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep in the quarter-finals, winning in three sets.

Having won her previous four matches in straight sets, Williams dropped a set, and her serve, for the first time in the tournament in the second set, but rebounded in the third to win and therefore set up a semi-final clash against Karolina Pliskova.

The American last failed to reach the semi-finals in 2007, when she lost to Justine Henin in the quarter-finals of a major for the third time that year, while she missed the 2010 tournament due to a foot injury.

This will be her 31st career Grand Slam semi-final and her record stands at an imposing 27-3, with two of those losses coming at the US Open, including last year’s shock defeat against Roberta Vinci.

While a repeat of what happened twelve months ago appears unlikely against Pliskova, Williams will still be in for a torrid time against the Czech, who currently leads the aces department this year.

The 24-year-old, who also has a twin sister Kristyna, had it much easier in her quarter-final against Ana Konjuh, winning in straight sets in less than an hour and not facing a single break point throughout.

The match ended with the 2010 Australian Open junior champion serving two straight aces.

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Pliskova will now attempt to become the first woman since Kim Clijsters at the 2009 US Open to beat both Williams sisters at a major. She had earlier beaten Venus Williams in a thrilling three-setter in the fourth round.

Clijsters is also one of three women (the other being Venus, at Wimbledon in 2000, and as mentioned before Roberta Vinci at last year’s US Open) to beat Serena in a Grand Slam semi-final. Back then, this happened:

Not to mention, Williams also lost her cool during the 2011 US Open final against Samantha Stosur, which until last year’s loss to Vinci was her last defeat at Flushing Meadows:

The other women’s semi-final will be contested between second seed Angelique Kerber and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

The German will know by the time she steps out onto court against Wozniacki whether she still has a chance of claiming the world number one ranking from Serena Williams at the end of the tournament.

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This is the world number one ranking scenario as it stands:
* If Williams and Kerber BOTH advance to the final, the number one ranking will be decided there.
* If Williams reaches the final, and Kerber doesn’t, the American will stay on top of the rankings regardless of what happens in the final.
* If Kerber reaches the final, and Williams doesn’t, OR if neither reaches the final, the German will replace the American at the top of the rankings no matter what.

In Kerber’s favour is that she leads Wozniacki 7-5 in overall head-to-head, including a straight-sets win in their most recent clash in Beijing nearly twelve months ago. This, however, will be their first meeting at a Grand Slam tournament, and this will be Wozniacki’s third US Open semi-final as opposed to Kerber’s second.

There has not been a one versus two women’s final in New York since 2013.

Meanwhile, in the men’s draw, second seed Andy Murray’s title hopes were extinguished following a gut-wrenching five-set defeat to Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the third of the men’s quarter-finals.

The Scot dominated the first set and was leading two-sets-to-one when an untimely incident inside Arthur Ashe Stadium in the third game of the fourth set halted Murray’s concentration just as he was about to break for a 2-1 lead.

The umpire, Marija Cicak, ordered the point be replayed and the 29-year-old eventually lost his cool, dropping the set 6-1 to then be forced into a fifth and deciding set.

Nishikori broke early in the final set before Murray pegged back a few games to make it 5-all. The Japanese, a finalist in 2014, broke in the eleventh game then served out the match to seal just his second win against the Scot.

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He now faces the winner of the match between Juan Martin del Potro and Stan Wawrinka, which was still in progress at the time of publication.

The men’s top half semi-final will be contested by Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils. Both men’s semis will be played on Saturday morning (AEST).

Matches to watch on Day 11
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Night session – Not before 7:00pm (9:00am AEST)
Serena Williams (USA) [1] versus Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [10]
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) versus Angelique Kerber (GER) [2]

Grandstand
Day session – Not before 12:00pm (2:00am AEST)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) [12]/Lucie Safarova (CZE) [12] versus Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [5]/Elena Vesnina (RUS) [5]
Caroline Garcia (FRA) [1]/Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) [1] versus Martina Hingis (SUI) [6]/Coco Vandeweghe (USA) [6]
Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) [1]/Nicolas Mahut (FRA) [1] versus Jamie Murray (GBR) [4]/Bruno Soares (BRA) [4]
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) [8]/Marc Lopez (ESP) [8] versus Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)/Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)

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