Vinci Beats Mladenovic at U.S. Open for Spot in First Ever Major Semifinal
Italian Roberta Vinci booked a spot in the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career on Tuesday, outlasting the heat and 22-year-old Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to take the first spot in the U.S. Open final four.
On a hot Tuesday afternoon, Vinci got things going early. She broke Mladenovic in her opening service game, and after consolidating it with a hold, had a 3-0 advantage. She would go on to serve out the set, committing just four unforced errors in the process.
The second set saw more breaks of serve, with both players breaking twice as the score came to 6-5. As Vinci tried to serve to send the match into a tiebreak, Mladenovic broke with a huge forehand winner, securing her third break of the set and sending the match into a deciding third set.
The turning point of the match came in the seventh game of the final set. At 3-3 and on Mladenovic’s serve, the two battled through eight deuces and traded points back and forth. The 32-year old Italian finally got the break through though, and came away from that game with the break point for a 4-3 lead.
That was all she needed, and two games later, Vinci had a chance to serve out the match. She didn’t capitalize on her first match point, but closed it out on her second one to move into the first Major semifinal of her career.
“It’s an amazing moment for me, it’s unbelievable,” Vinci said on-court after the match. “It’s my first semifinal in my career. It was an incredible match, so tight, but I fight a lot. Kristina played so good and at the end we were both probably a little bit tight and a little bit scared about the match, but I’m so happy and I don’t have words to say!”
Vinci had more unforced errors than winners, but was able to take advantage of 64 unforced errors from Mladenovic. The big-hitting Frenchwoman didn’t play her cleanest match, and Vinci made sure her errors came back to haunt her.
Up next for the Italian is the winner between top-seeded Serena Williams and Venus Williams, to be played later tonight under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
