NEW YORK — Belinda Bencic knew there was sadness in Switzerland after Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka departed the U.S. Open on the same day.
She did her part to lift some spirts — and might just end up lifting a trophy.
"It would be really nice if the boys could also make it to semifinals," she said, "but I’m happy I can kind of do it for them and don’t let them down."
Bencic wore down Donna Vekic and advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory Wednesday.
Coming off her upset of top-ranked Naomi Osaka in the fourth round, the 12th-seeded Bencic kept up her big hitting and broke open a close match midway through the second set by winning eight straight points.
Trailing 3-2 in the set, that sent her into the lead and Vekic never recovered, with Bencic winning the final four games to surpass her 2014 run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for her best performance in a major tournament.
"Even when you are playing bad, you want to come back to this feeling. You want to eventually get the big wins and have these nice feelings," said Bencic, who has battled injuries in the five years since.
Bencic advanced to play either No. 15 Bianca Andreescu or No. 25 Elise Mertens on Thursday night. Six-time U.S. Open champion Serena Williams faces fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the other semifinal.
On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal tried to make sure the U.S. Open had one member of the Big Three in the semifinals when he faced No. 20 Diego Schwartzman on Wednesday night. No. 13 Gael Monfils of France and No. 24 Matteo Berrettini were playing in the other quarterfinal.
One men’s semifinal is already set, with No. 5 Daniil Medvedev facing Grigor Dimitrov, who eliminated five-time U.S. Open champion Federer on Tuesday. Wawrinka had beaten top-ranked Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, in the fourth round before losing to Medvedev.
Vekic, seeded 23rd, was also seeking her first semifinal in a major tournament. But with her face bright red as the sun beat down on Arthur Ashe Stadium, she couldn’t keep up with her friend’s power during the biggest moments of the match.
"I think she was just playing better tennis overall today," Vekic said. "I felt like I couldn’t get three good points together. I was, like, playing one point good, then bad."
It was Bencic who cracked first, missing an easy putaway on game point while serving at 4-all in the first set. She momentarily seemed to lose focus, as Vekic then won the next three points to break for a 5-4 lead.
But Bencic broke right back to even it again and eventually they headed to a tiebreaker, where the 22-year-old Bencic has thrived this season. Trailing 2-1, she ran off five of the next six points before eventually wrapping it up to improve to 10-2 in tiebreakers this season.
Vekic recovered to take a 3-2 lead in the second set, but that 10-point fifth game seemed to take a little out of her, with Bencic running off the next eight points to seize the lead.
Bencic has worked in the past with fellow Switzerland native Martina Hingis. She is coached by her father, Ivan, whom she acknowledged during her postmatch interview.
"I think he almost died today as well by heart attack," she said.
Nadal, who has won three of his 18 major titles at Flushing Meadows, will be playing in his 40th career Grand Slam quarterfinal. He is 7-0 against Schwartzman.
[relatedlinks]
