The retractable roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium is not finished, despite the new steel structure rising above the court.
So the United States Open, for one more year, anyway, is still vulnerable to rain. On Wednesday, the 10th day of the tournament, the rain came, sending Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep back to the locker room during the third set of their quarterfinal match.
About two hours later, after the sun had returned and the match was over, Halep said, “Thanks, God, for raining.”
Halep,
the No. 2 seed, reached the Open semifinals for the first time,
defeating the 20th-seeded Azarenka, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. She will meet No. 26
Flavia Pennetta, who beat No. 5 Petra Kvitova, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Halep
said that in the first set she was playing her best tennis, but in the
second, she played further behind the baseline and ceded control of the
match to Azarenka.
“Everything
was negative in my head,” Halep said. “The rain delay was perfect for
me. It was unbelievable that I had another chance.”
She spoke to her coach, Darren Cahill, and focused on returning to her first-set game plan.
When
play resumed, with Halep serving at 40-15 and 1-2 of the third set, she
hit an ace down the middle. It marked the return of her aggression. She
broke Azarenka for the sixth time in the match at 3-3 and held on to
win. Halep finished with 40 winners and only 19 unforced errors.
Before
the rain came, Pennetta and Kvitova were more worried about the sun and
the scorching conditions it brought. Kvitova, who was found to have
mononucleosis this summer, has been limiting her practice time during
the tournament. She has also limited her time in matches by not losing a
set.
Against
Pennetta, she played for nearly an hour longer than in any of her
previous matches, and she began to wither. Kvitova had nine double
faults, was broken six times and collected 60 unforced errors.
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