Venus only one remaining

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Venus Williams arrived at this U.S. Open with a bum knee. She hadn’t played a match in more than two months. She hadn’t reached the semifinals at any Grand Slam tournament in more than a year.

And now? Williams is two victories away from her first U.S. Open title since 2001.

The No. 3-seeded Williams overcame nine double-faults and a total of 33 unforced errors to beat reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night.

“I want to be in the final, because then obviously it’s just one more step,” the 30-year-old Williams said. “But I’m just focused on the semis, and I don’t get too excited unless the tournament is over.”

Next up for Williams is a semifinal against defending champion Kim Clijsters, who ran her U.S. Open winning streak to 19 matches by eliminating French Open runner-up Sam Stosur 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Clijsters and Williams have split their 12 previous meetings, but the Belgian won the most recent four, including in the fourth round in New York in 2009.

“Venus is a great competitor. She’s been playing some really great tennis these last few matches,” Clijsters said. “I look forward to it. It’s a challenge.”

Williams is the only American singles player left in the 2010 tournament, because the last of the country’s 15 men in the field, 20th-seeded Sam Querrey, lost 7-6 (9), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland earlier Tuesday.

“I definitely wanted to ... keep the hope going,” said Querrey, who was broken in the match’s last game. “You know, I was close.”

It’s the second consecutive year that no U.S. men reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals, something that hadn’t ever happened before 2009. And this is the first season that the United States didn’t place a man in at least two Grand Slam quarterfinals since the French Open first admitted foreigners in 1925.

Wawrinka, who joins Roger Federer to give Switzerland two quarterfinalists at a major for the first time, takes on No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a semifinal berth. Youzhny eliminated unseeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Tuesday’s late men’s fourth-round matches were all-Spanish contests: No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 23 Feliciano Lopez, and No. 8 Fernando Verdasco vs. No. 10 David Ferrer.

Asked whether she sensed any responsibility to carry American hopes, Williams smiled and replied: “If I felt like that, I don’t think I’d be able to even raise my arms. Thankfully, I don’t feel that way. I think my expectations are enough to deal with, so I’m just going to hopefully temper that.”

Her own expectations are based, of course, on a lengthy list of successes, including seven Grand Slam singles titles. Two came at the U.S. Open, in 2000 and 2001. But she last made the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2007, and she hasn’t played in the title match since losing to her sister Serena in 2002.

“I feel really comfortable here,” Williams said, “and it’s great to come back to a place where I have won, and a place where I’ve played well.”

Querrey-Wawrinka lasted nearly 41/2 hours, meaning Williams-Schiavone didn’t start on the same Arthur Ashe Stadium court until after 6 p.m.

But Williams didn’t mind the delay one bit.

“I’m a pro at waiting for my match: Singles, doubles, you name it, I’ve waited. I’ve waited for rain delays. That’s a part of tennis,” said Williams, whose other five major singles championships came at Wimbledon. “I’m a pretty laid-back person, so I don’t get too tight waiting.”

She and the sixth-seeded Schiavone both found it tough to play the way they wanted, thanks to swirling wind that Williams said made it impossible to practice serves during the warmup time, because her ball tosses kept going astray.

Still, she handled the conditions better in the end, improving to 8-0 against Schiavone.