Thank you for following along with tonight’s liveblog.
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Madison Keys advances to the US Open final!
Second set: Keys 6-1, 6-2 Vandeweghe
An all-American semi-final leads to an all-American final: Madison Keys vs. Sloane Stephens.
Keys won tonight in dominating fashion, taking the match in just 66 minutes -- and that was including a seven-minute break for injury attention. Keys put an exclamation point on her win with an ace, and then threw her hands to the sky. It’s her third win over Vandeweghe in the last month.
More impressive, it’s her first Grand Slam final of her career. Keys will definitely have a great shot if she plays like she did tonight in the final. But Stephens is a lot more mobile on the court than Vandeweghe, and will be able to get to some of the shots Keys’ opponent tonight could not.
Updated
Second set: *Keys 6-1, 5-2 Vandeweghe (*denotes next server)
Vandeweghe stays alive with maybe her best game of the night, mixing finesse shots and power to take the game in short order.
Keys will now serve for the match.
Second set: Keys 6-1, 5-1 Vandeweghe* (*denotes next server)
Well, so much for the change in momentum. Keys is moving just fine with the hamstring wrap and is now just one game away from the US Open Final.
Keys is back out on the court now. She has her right hamstring taped up. We’ll see if her choosing to take a break for seven minutes changes the momentum of a match in which she is up 6-1, 4-1.
Despite playing perhaps the best tennis of her career, Madison Keys has head inside for a medical timeout.
Keys breaks Vandeweghe in the fifth game of the second set!
Second set: *Keys 6-1, 4-1 Vandeweghe (*denotes next server)
It will be very hard for Vandeweghe to come back now. Keys breaks her again and is now just two games away from moving on in two sets.
Keys wins the game with a laser inside the left sideline and then yells to the sky. She’s close to her first Grand Slam final.
Views from up top.
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2017
🌃🌠🎾😎#USOpen pic.twitter.com/tMp5MO2Xbz
Second set: Keys 6-1, 3-1 Vandeweghe* (*denotes server)
Vandeweghe put up her best fight in a return of serve on the night, twice getting the game to deuce. But Mays put it away with an ace. Vandeweghe looks increasingly upset, and yelled in the direction of her box between games.
Keys breaks Vandeweghe in the third game of the second set!
Second set: *Keys 6-1, 2-1 Vandeweghe (*denotes server)
Vandeweghe has now had her serve broken three times in the match and held it only twice. Keys continues to overpower her with returns hitting 85 mph. There hasn’t been a lot of beautiful tennis so far tonight. Mostly quick points, but the last point of the game had a long rally that ended with Vandeweghe hitting the ball short into the net.
Second set: Keys 6-1, 1-1 Vandeweghe* (*denotes server)
Keys continues to dominate on serve, evening the second set on four quick points. Vandeweghe hasn’t been all that close to breaking her even once so far tonight.
Second set: *Keys 6-1, 0-1 Vandeweghe (*denotes next server)
Vandeweghe opened the start of the second set down 0-30 and looked in some serious trouble -- not just in the game, but in the whole match -- but battle back to take the game, aided by some errant returns by Keys.
Updated
Keys wins the first set, 6-1!
First set: Keys 6-1 Vandeweghe
After dropping her first game of the night, Keys opened up this game 40-0. But then Vandeweghe pushed her to four set points before Keys prevailed. She has only dropped three points on her serve so far tonight through one set. The first set is in the books in just 23 minutes.
Updated
First set: *Keys 5-1 Vandeweghe (*denotes next server)
After a brief break, Vandeweghe came out an won the first point of the game and then lost the second on a lucky bounce for Mays off the net. The pair battled to deuce twice before Vandeweghe took her first game of the night on back-to-back errors by Keys.
First set: Keys 5-0 Vandeweghe* (denotes next server)
And another one. Vandeweghe did win a point in that game, but then Keys put it away by ripping an ace. We’re now at 5-0 13 minutes into the match/mismatch.
Keys breaks in the fourth game of the first set!
First set: *Keys 4-0 Vandeweghe (*denotes next server)
This set is all but over. Another dominating game by Keys. We’re not even getting much volleying. Just one or two shots and done. Eleven minutes in and she is up 4-0.
First set: Keys 3-0 Vandeweghe* (*denotes next server)
Another very quick game to Keys. Just ripping the ball and placing it wherever she wants. Keys has won 12 points so far tonight to just two for Vandeweghe.
Keys breaks in the second game of the first set!
First set: *Keys 2-0 Vandeweghe (*denotes next server)
Obviously not the start Vandeweghe wanted, losing two quick games to fall down 2-0. Facing a break at 40-30, Keys hit the ball into the net. The crowd is very quiet so far.
First set: Keys 1-0 Vandeweghe* (*denotes next server)
Keys makes quick work in the first game, going up 40-0 and then ripping a nice forehand down the left baseline on Vandeweghe’s return of serve to close out the game.
Updated
Here we go. The second semifinal is underway with Keys serving at 9:59 p.m. ET.
We’ll be providing game-by-game updates.
Vandeweghe and Keys are making their way out to the court to begin warming up.
Keys and Vandeweghe are meeting for the third time in the last month.
Keys took down Vandeweghe 7-6, 6-4 in the Stanford in early August. And then, a few weeks later, beat Vandeweghe again in Cincinnati, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
But Vandeweghe obviously enters the match with a lot of confidence, having knocked off No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova, 7-6, 6-3, in the Quarter-final.
Hello and welcome to the liveblog for tonight’s second US Open women’s semi-final between Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys.
The winner will face Sloane Stephens in the final. Stephens just fought off Venus Williams in three sets to reach her first US Open final. The winner of Vandeweghe-Keys will also be in a Grand Slam final for the first time.
The post-match festivities with Stephens are finishing up. We’ll be underway with Vandeweghe and Keys soon.
Updated
DJ will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s how Roger Federer got on last night:
Riding an implausible wave of retro romance, Roger Federer, 36 and in sight of his third slam title of the year, foundered on the sharp rocks of hubris on day 10 of the US Open when Juan Martín del Potro ripped up his invitation to a semi-final against Rafael Nadal.
Instead, the big man from Tandil will be Nadal’s opponent on Friday. The world No1 leads him 8-5 over their careers, but only a brave bookmaker would make either of them a clear favourite. Earlier, Nadal, a two-time New York champion, was at his commanding best in dismissing the limp but fevered challenge of the Russian teenager, Andrey Rublev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. That, though, was not a reliable guide to what awaits the Spanish clay-court supremo on Friday.
Click here for the full report:
