Slam glory beckons Sloane, Keys

New York: A new Grand Slam champion will be crowned at the US Open after Sloane Stephens beat fellow American Venus Williams 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 in a rollercoaster of a semi-final on Thursday.

Stephens, who returned to competition at Wimbledon after nearly a year off because of a foot injury, recovered from a second-set meltdown to end ninth seed Williams’s hopes of reaching a third major final this year.

A ruthless Madison Keys crushed CoCo Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2 in the second semi-final.It will be the first time two American women have played for the title since 2002 when Venus lost 6-4, 6-3 to her younger sister Serena Williams.

“I have no words to describe what I‘m feeling what it took to get here. The journey I took. I have no words,” said Stephens, who underwent foot surgery last February.

“If someone told me I’d make two semis and a grand slam final this year I would have passed out, which is what I feel like doing now. “I don’t know how I got here. Hard work, that’s it.”

The 24-year-old Stephens, 13 years younger than Williams, paid tribute to the seven-time Grand Slam champion.
”For American tennis there’s no question marks. The proof is in the pudding. American tennis, here we are,” she said.

Despite her lack of match play this year, Stephens began confidently and broke for 3-1 when Williams netted a routine forehand and then went on to win the last three games of the set as the 37-year-old strangely appeared to struggle with serve.

Keys, who was absent from the first two months recovering from wrist surgery, delivered an old fashion thrashing as she needed just 66 minutes to beat Vandeweghe, who also lost in the Australian Open semi-finals.

"I definitely was starting to feel it and I was afraid if I went too far into a corner then something more serious could happen so I felt I needed to get it worked on sooner rather than later," said Keys."I feel great right now, I don't think I could feel better than I do now," she added.