Women's US Open - Venus ousts Schiavone

The first of the women's quarter finals were completed on Wednesday night as Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters set up a SF clash. Venus Williams defeated Francesca Schiavone in a tight two setter, 7-6 6-4 and in blustery conditions. In the first set, Venus twice went a break up but failed to consolidate the break as the first set went into a tiebreak. Venus went into a commanding 4-0 lead however Schiavone clawed her way back with some sensational work at the net. However at 5-5, Schiavone produced two errors handing Venus the first set. The second set followed a similar vein as Venus twice secured the break but could not keep the pressure on as Schiavone broke back. However at the end of the second set, Venus did manage to break and serve the match out to put away the fiery Italian.

In the second QF, Kim Clijsters overcame Samantha Stosur in a scrappy error-strewn affair. Clijsters took the first set with the more solid serving however the second set was a much tighter affair with Clijsters producing a lot more unforced errors. Stosur struggled to finish off the second set as she got the jitters on her serve before eventually taking the match to a final set. The final set was scrappy as Stosur broke Clijster's first three service games however the normally potent serve of Stosur was disappointing as she failed to hold serve at all in the final set. Clijsters eventually found some consistency on the serve to finish off Stosur 6-4 5-7 6-3. Clijsters will have to play a lot better against Venus and i suspect she will be more pumped up for that match which should be an exciting SF. Clijsters goes into the match as the favourite and i would have to agree with the bookmakers as i have always felt Venus would not be able to sustain herself for 7 matches following her summer absence.