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Venus Williams kept
the American flag fluttering at the U.S. Open on Tuesday when she beat
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6 6-4 to become the first
player through to the semi-finals.

Williams, promoted
to third seed this year after her sister and world number one Serena
withdrew with an injury, provided a dazzling display that matched her
sparkling pink dress to reach the last four for the eighth time in 12
years at New York.

It has been nine
years since she won her second successive title at Flushing Meadows but
her form over the past nine days has given rise to the belief that a
third crown could be on the horizon.

Her win came
immediately after the host-nation’s already slim prospects of winning
the men’s title were extinguished when Sam Querrey lost a centre court
thriller to Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka.

The pair slugged it
out for almost four and a half hours, putting the match programme hours
behind, before Wawrinka, who upset Britain’s Andy Murray in the third
round, prevailed 7-6 6-7 7-5 4-6 6-4.

“I left it all out
there today and I didn’t get to the quarters,” said an exhausted and
deflated Querrey. “I’m bummed, but I did everything I could.”

Wawrinka’s next opponent is Russian 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny, who slipped quietly through his section of the draw.

He earned his place
in the last eight with a convincing 7-5 6-2 4-6 6-4 win over Tommy
Robredo, one of five Spanish men left in the top half of the draw.

Semi-finals certain for Spain

The remaining four,
headed by Rafa Nadal, are all in the same quarter, ensuring Spain will
be represented in the men’s semi-finals on Saturday.

Defending women’s
champion Kim Clijsters was due to play Australia’s Samantha Stosur in
the first of the two feature night matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium
before Nadal squared off with countryman Feliciano Lopez.

Helpless Schiavone
Schiavone, who became the first Italian woman to win a grand slam
singles title when she won at Paris in June, could not match the power
of Williams but provided the former world number one with some awkward
moments by mixing up her game in the windy conditions.

She came from 4-2
down to force a first set tiebreak then twice came from behind in the
second set to get back to 5-4 when her serve let her down and Williams
broke to wrap it up in straight sets.

“She played a great match,” Williams said in a courtside interview.
“It’s not easy to play in these conditions, it’s hard to know what
decisions to make, but she played excellent.”