Serena tops Venus in quarter-final thriller Posted on September 4th
By Larry Fine
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Briton Andy Murray roared in relief as he celebrated reaching his first grand slam semi-final after ending the U.S. Open campaign of Argentine teenager Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-5 on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Murray, dominant in the tiebreakers, winning the first 7-2 and the second by 7-1, overcame shaky moments in an error-filled third set before ending the slugfest as Del Potro served to stay alive.
“I’m very relieved,” Murray said after the grudge match against the in-form, 19-year-old Argentine, with whom he traded on court insults at the Rome Masters in May.
“I had my chances in the third set and let it slip a little bit. He had been on such a great run this summer. He fought so hard, and it was a great atmosphere in the end.”
Murray snapped Del Potro’s 23-match winning streak that included wins in his last four tournaments — on clay at Stuttgart and Kitzbuhel, and on hard courts at Los Angeles and Washington that sent his ranking from 65 to number 17.
Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina also registered a personal first at Flushing Meadows when she overpowered Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-2 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the U.S. Open for the first time.
Their triumphs on another hot New York day served as prelude to a glittering night program at the National Tennis Center.
The opening match under the lights was scheduled to feature the Williams sisters, fourth-seeded Serena and Wimbledon champion Venus, staging their 17th career showdown with the winner advancing to the last four against Safina. Continued…