Chan Yung-jan narrowly missed out on a rare Taiwanese appearance in a Grand Slam final at the US Open on Wednesday, while Kei Nishikori stunned Andy Murray to reach the semi-finals of the men’s singles.
Chan and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia lost a hard-fought mixed doubles semi-final 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 to Laura Siegemund of Germany and Mate Pavic of Croatia in 1 hour, 38 minutes on Court 17 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
“Even though we stopped at semis but still a great run, thanks to Nenad for playing together, I had a lot of fun!! Till next year,” Chan wrote on Facebook.
Photo: Jerry Lai, USA Today
Siegemund and Pavic hit 35 winners and converted four of 10 break points, winning 76 of the 145 points contested to advance a final against seventh-seeded US duo Coco Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram, who ousted Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Robert Farah of Colombia 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in 1 hour, 28 minutes in their semi-final.
In the men’s singles, Nishikori held his nerve in a gripping final set to move two wins away from becoming the first Asian man to capture a Grand Slam singles title.
The Japanese star clinched a dramatic 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 comeback triumph in a shade under four hours against the Wimbledon and Olympic champion.
In tomorrow’s semi-final, the 26-year-old is to take on Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, who defeated tearful Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Wawrinka, who had to save a match point in his third-round clash with Dan Evans, is playing in a third US Open semi-final in four years.
Tomorrow’s other semi-final will see defending champion Novak Djokovic take on 10th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils.
“It was one of my toughest matches mentally and physically. Juan Martin’s an incredible player,” Wawrinka said.
In a match which featured 17 breaks of serve, Nishikori prevailed for only his second win in nine matches against world No. 2 Murray.
His win came just three weeks after losing to Murray in the Olympic semi-finals.
“It was a really difficult match. I didn’t start well. I felt it was really quick and I was missing too much,” said Nishikori after reaching only his second Slam semi-final after his runner-up spot in New York in 2014. “In the fourth and fifth sets I think I played some of the best tennis.”
In the women’s singles, world No. 1 Serena Williams fended off a spirited Simona Halep, downing the fifth-seeded Romanian 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.
Williams, seeking a record seventh US Open title and 23rd Grand Slam crown, fired 18 aces en route to the triumph, which set up a meeting with first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Karolina Pliskova for a place in Saturday’s final.
After surviving a match point en route to a fourth-round victory over Williams’ sister Venus, Pliskova beat 18-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-2.
“I’m so excited to be in my first semi-final,” said the 24-year-old, who had failed to make it out of the third round in 17 previous Grand Slam appearances.
Konjuh, the 18-year-old who is projected to rise from 92nd in the world to 51, could not be disappointed with her efforts.
“I cannot be sad after all of this,” Konjuh said. “When I came here I could only imagine playing the quarters. I think it’s been a great tournament.”
Meanwhile, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) was looking into a match after irregular betting patterns were detected, but the US Tennis Association said it was confident nothing nefarious had taken place.
The alert came after Swiss 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky’s 6-1, 6-1 victory over Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko on Tuesday last week.
“We are aware of the alert and at this point it is a matter for the Tennis Integrity Unit,” US Tennis Association spokesperson Chris Widmaier said. “We certainly have full confidence in the TIU to follow up properly and quickly regarding this matter. That being said, all betting alerts need to be properly investigated, but in this situation we are fairly confident that nothing nefarious has happened here, but the TIU will undergo its normal process to ensure that there is no suspicious activity here.”
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