Most of Venus Williams’ American rivals from the early 2000s have long since retired from tennis.
The last time three American women reached the semifinals of the US Open, the group included Venus and Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport. Jennifer Capriati and Monica Seles also advanced to the quarterfinals that year.
That was back in 2002, when Serena beat her older sister Venus in the final after Venus had won the Open in 2000 and ’01.
Now here we are 15 years later and Davenport, Capriati and Seles are long gone from the game. Yet Venus, now 37, is again one of at least three American women in the US Open semifinals. She remains on track to win her first Grand Slam title since 2008.
No. 9 Venus will face Sloane Stephens in one all-American semifinal on Thursday night, while No. 20 CoCo Vandeweghe will play the winner of Wednesday’s night match between Madison Keys of the U.S. and Kaia Kanepi of Estonia. Vandeweghe knocked off world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, 7-6(3), 6-3, on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s been a great two weeks for American tennis,” Venus said after a thrilling three-set victory over No. 13 Petra Kvitova on Tuesday night, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2). “Seeing all the American players in the draw and all of them advancing so deep and competing so well.
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