Azarenka holds off Stosur to reach U.S. Open semis
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka held off defending champion Samantha Stosur on a rainy Tuesday to secure a berth in the semifinals at the U.S. Open.
The Australian Open champion Azarenka edged out the seventh-seeded Stosur 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where rain delayed play for 75 minutes with the Belarusian leading 3-0 in the first set.
Azarenka steamrolled her way though the first set before Stosur fought back in the second.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In the third set, Azarenka went out to a 4-2 lead following a break, but Stosur got the break back and eventually forced the match-deciding tiebreak.
Azarenka set up her first match point in the tiebreak with a backhand drop- shot winner, and converted on it when Stosur sent one final backhand beyond the baseline after 2 hours, 23 minutes of quality tennis.
With the victory over Stosur, Azarenka is guaranteed to remain atop the women's rankings next week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"She played amazing," Azarenka said. "So much higher, the level was today. Again made me play my best tennis. I was hoping for a few outs, but she kept hitting the lines. I kept saying, 'Miss, miss.' She didn't want to, I guess."
The Minsk native Azarenka is now a perfect 11-0 in three-set matches this year and a flawless 7-0 lifetime overall versus Stosur, having won 14-of-15 sets.
The 23-year-old Azarenka will now appear in her fourth career Grand Slam semifinal and her first at the U.S. Open.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Stosur stunned American great Serena Williams in straight sets in last year's U.S. Open finale and was a French Open runner-up in 2010.
Azarenka will meet the Maria Sharapova-Marion Bartoli winner on Thursday. Azarenka beat the French Open champ Sharapova in the Aussie Open championship match back in January.
The third-seeded Sharapova was trailing the 11th-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli 0-4 at Ashe when their match was suspended for the day because of rain. The start of the match was delayed by wet weather for an hour-and-a-half.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The former world No. 1 Sharapova captured her lone U.S. Open title in 2006. The 2012 Aussie Open runner-up captured the French Open in June to complete a coveted career Grand Slam.
Sharapova lost to Williams in last month's Olympic gold-medal match.
The women's quarterfinals are scheduled to conclude Wednesday on the hardcourts at the National Tennis Center, where Sharapova will continue her affair against Bartoli, the fourth-seeded Wimbledon champion and Olympic gold medalist Williams will encounter 12th-seeded fellow former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, and 10th-seeded French Open runner-up Sara Errani will battle 20th-seeded good friend, fellow Italian and doubles partner Roberta Vinci. Errani and Vinci are into the doubles semifinals in Flushing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Williams owns 14 major singles titles, including three at the U.S. Open, where she's also a two-time runner-up.