Serena Beats Venus, Advances to US Open Semis | IXGAMES
The Grand Slam dream is still alive for Serena Williams. The World’s No. 1 women’s player and top favorite at the 2015 US Open has advanced to the semifinals, but Serena needed three sets to beat her sister Venus on Tuesday, winning 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to cash in as a –1000 favorite. Next up for Serena is a relatively easy match against Roberta Vinci, the No. 43-ranked woman in singles action going into the US Open. Vinci is a doubles specialist, having won all four Grand Slam titles with former partner Sara Errani; the Palermo, Italy native was ranked as high as No. 11 in singles just two years ago. Vinci’s path to the semifinals was made easier when No. 25 Eugenie Bouchard had to forfeit their fourth-round match with a concussion. Vinci won’t be a cakewalk when they meet this Thursday (11:00 AM ET), but Serena is still the –1800 favorite at press time. They’ve played four matches against each other so far, and Serena won all four of them in dominant fashion, including last month on the hard courts of Toronto. Thursday’s match is priced at –700 to go under its posted total of 2.5 sets.