Day 12: women’s semifinals. Williams vs Makarova

Four of women’s tennis’ finest talents take to the courts of Arthur Ashe Stadium, as the women’s semifinals headline the day. 

At the start of this event, 128 names filled the lines of the women’s draw—today, the deal is two pair. The question to be answered on this Day 12 of the event is whether two of the women’s game’s aces can trump a pair of wild cards making a surprise showing at the table at this late stage of the game. Normally, that would be an easy answer, but given the wacky happenings in the women’s draw this year, anything is possible. Indeed, not since “The Grapes of Wrath” have so many seeds been scattered to the wind. Today, Serena Williams takes on Ekaterina Makarova; Caroline Wozniacki squares off with Peng Shuai. Two matches removed from tennis’ toughest title, each of today’s competitors will be breaking out her Friday finest—each eager to secure a spot in Sunday’s final.

Women’s top seed Williams, 32, has sailed through her quarter of the draw, reaching this point without the loss of a set. Incredibly, the two-time defending US Open champion had not advanced as far as the quarters in any of the season’s three previous Slams, losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open, the second round of the French and the third round of Wimbledon. But the major issues she’s had at the majors now seem a decidedly distant memory. The top player in the women’s game arrived in Flushing in top shape, coming off a sizzling summer in which she won two tournaments and reached the semis of another, finishing first in the Emirates Airline US Open Series Bonus Challenge. That first-place finish means that if she can win her third consecutive US Open crown, she’ll get a $1 million bonus on top of the $3 million winner’s purse. Not only has Williams yet to surrender a set, she’s lost only 22 games in five matches and has spent a total of five hours, 34 minutes on court. That’s exactly one hour, 15 minutes more in five matches than Kei Nishikori played in his fourth-round match alone. You get the idea: she’s been the definition of dominant.

Makarova is playing in her first career Grand Slam semi after back-to-back wins over No. 7 seed Eugenie Bouchard and Victoria Azarenka, who had reached the final here in each of the last two years. Like Williams, the 26-year-old Russian has reached this point without losing a set. Indeed, the big-serving lefty has been the picture of composure in driving deeper than she’d ever before been in a major, playing with the sort of confidence and focus that suggest she has the game to figure as a factor in future Slams. Across five matches, Makarova has won 75 percent of her first-serve points, gotten in 80 percent of her returns and has lost her serve just six times. Long laboring in the shadow of her more famous countrywoman, Maria Sharapova, Makarova has turned this Flushing fortnight into a coming-out party of sorts. Already the owner of a major title—she and Elena Vesnina claimed the doubles crown at Roland Garros in 2013—she’s now two matches away from becoming a serious singles sensation.

Makarova and Williams have met only four times, with Williams leading 3-1. But the two have spilt a pair of Grand Slam encounters, with Williams winning here in the third round in 2012 and the Russian ousting the American in the fourth round of the Aussie Open that same year. This figures as Williams’ best test to this point, but this close to realizing a successful end to what has been a disappointing Slam season, it’s unlikely that the best in the game can be bested. In a tight two, Williams is on to her fourth consecutive US Open final.