US Open day nine: Venus sets up Sloane semi

American tennis (on the women’s side) is alive and kicking – just. Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams were forced to battle to the very end of their respective quarterfinal matches, setting up an all-American semi at the US Open.

The women: All-American semi set

There is a (USTA) dream of two all-American semifinals. Well, one half of that dream is booked in, as first Sloane Stephens and then Venus Williams battled into the final four.

Stephens, who has seen her ranking jump from No.957 to No.34 (projected) in the space of four weeks, was forced to dig very deep during her 6-3 3-6 7-6(4) win over Anastasija Sevastova. In a match that swung back and forth, Stephens needed just the single mini-break to edge the deciding set tiebreak.

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“I’m getting teary-eyed. This is just incredible,” Stephens said after the win. “When I started my comeback at Wimbledon I could have never even have dreamed of something like this happening, making the semifinals of my home slam.”

It was a similarly tight finale during Venus Williams’ win over Petra Kvitova. In a match played for the most part beneath the roof, Williams eventually overpowered the free-hitting Czech 6-3 3-6 7-6(2).

“I was excited to be able to play her,” Venus cooed after the fact. “I’m so fortunate to have won that match – it came down to the wire. And I hope we have more matches like that.”

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The men: Busta moves into semis

Kevin Anderson blasted his way into his first Major semifinal at the expense of Sam Querrey. The big South African, who returned from injury earlier in the year, was a 7-6(5) 6-7(9) 6-3 7-6(7) in three hours 26 minutes. In a high octane, big hitting affair Anderson always seemed to be in the ascendancy. But as is so often the case in matches between players like this, it came down to a few precious points. With momentum in the final set tiebreak swinging back and forth, Anderson attacked on match point and Querrey sailed a backhand long as the clock ticked towards 2am.

Few could have predicted Pablo Carreno Busta would be playing in his maiden Grand Slam semifinal nine days ago, but the Spaniard overpowered Diego Schwartzman in straight sets. Busta, the top-ranked player left in the draw, was pushed all the way by the injured Schwartzman, but was able to secure the 6-4 6-4 6-2 win.

“It’s very exciting to be in the semi-finals,” Busta opined afterwards. “It was a very good match today. I tried to be focused all the time, Diego is a fighter. You need to be aggressive all the time and try to dominate the points.”