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The windswept Arthur Ashe Stadium began to resemble a beachside tennis court with the gusts blowing Caro's blonde mane into her eyes, the players' towels and bottles blown around and the net seemingly in danger of being uprooted. The world No. 2 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki battled the wind and the occasional brilliance of her opponent Dominika Cibulkova to extend her sublime summer into the semi-finals of the US Open. Vera Zvonareva overcame a fighting Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 7-5 in an hour and 43 minutes to advance to her second straight Grand Slam semi-final. The two women join defending champion Kim Clijsters and two time champion Venus Williams in the last four.

The 25-year old Kanepi has made waves this season, and the giant killer has been playing fearlessly to build on her recent run of good form. This was the Estonian's third quarter-final in a major and she was looking to go one better. Having ousted Jelena Jankovic and Yanina Wickmayer, the world No. 32 was beginning to harbour hopes of a first grand slam semi-final appearance.

Her opponent on the day was the 8th seeded Russian Zvonareva who herself has been enjoying a stellar season, having reached the final at Wimbledon. In the event, the players exchanged breaks in the first two games to make a stormy start to the match. The decisive break though came in the fifth, when Zvonareva accepted Kanepi's generosity - a double fault and a forehand that sailed long giving away the break. The Estonian recovered from 0-40, but threw in another double fault at deuce in the ninth game to offer Zvonareva a fourth set point. On this occasion Kanepi dumped her backhand in the net to lose the set. The Estonian was putting in barely half her first serves in play and winning a meagre 33% on her second serve - the result was never in doubt.

Kanepi tried harder in the second set but it was to be a day on which her attacking game unravelled in a heap of errors. There were an incredible 60 errors off the Estonian's racket. She was up a break twice in the second set, but she lacked the consistency on the day to make much of it. Zvonareva recovered from both breaks, and in the twelfth game Kanepi made an unforced error off her backhand to be broken for a seventh time to end the match 6-3, 7-5 in favour of the Russian. "The weather definitely wasn't good for the tennis, but we were both trying our best out there," Zvonareva said. "The most important thing was to find the right balance between being patient and aggressive. I think I did that well today."

In the night match on the show court - the woman on a hot streak took on the pint sized Slovakian who makes up for her size with her spirit and excellent court coverage. The first three games went against serve, before Wozniacki held for a change to lead 3-1. The world No. 45 served a double fault on break point in the fifth game to worsen her plight. Caroline was forced to fight off two break points in the eighth game before she used her powerful serve and backhand to retrieve the situation and take the set.

Cibulkova made her feisty intentions clear in the first game of the second set. The 5'3" Slovakian made light of a one set deficit to indulge the Dane in a lengthy battle that lasted 11 minutes before the world No. 2 managed to break serve. Cibulkova started to attack the Wozniacki forehand and that started to pay rich dividends - she earned the break back in the very next game to bring the set back on serve. With the set remaining on serve to 5-5, Wozniacki piled the pressure on her opponent in the eleventh game. A fighting Cibulkova succumbed to the situation, a backhand error giving away a crucial break. Wozniacki fought off a breakpoint in the final game to clinch her place in the semi-finals with a 6-2, 7-5 victory. While Cibulkova put in a much improved performance in the second set, she could only win 54% on her first serve making it impossible for her to have a realistic chance against Wozniacki. The Slovakian had 43 unforced errors to the 18 from her opponent to add to her woes.

Cibulkova can take heart from a good run here and will look to build on it as she attempts to return to the top twenty where she once belonged. For the first time though in the tournament, the top seed seemed vulnerable - her forehand was way too short and at times she failed to take the attack to her lesser ranked opponent. She will contest the semi-final against the Russian world No. 8 and will need to put in a much improved performance to stand any chance of returning to the finals this year. The semi-finals will be played on Friday.

Results

Singles - Quarterfinals
(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 62 75
(7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (31) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 63 75

Doubles - Quarterfinals
(2) Huber/Petrova (USA/RUS) d. (5) Raymond/Stubbs (USA/AUS) 64 36 75
(7) Chan/Zheng (TPE/CHN) d. (15) Mattek-Sands/Shaughnessy (USA/USA) 64 64

File Photograph Copyright: Christian Mesiano

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