Brady routs Putintseva to reach US Open semis, Zverev into last four
American upstart Jennifer Brady continued her surprising surge at the US Open with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva on Tuesday to reach her first grand slam semi-final.
The 28th-seeded Brady, who has yet to drop a set at this year's US Open, used her massive forehand and impressive court coverage to deny Putintseva in her bid to become the first Kazakh woman to reach the final four of any major.
Jennifer Brady has not dropped a set at this year's US Open.Credit:Getty Images
"I came out with nerves obviously ... so I just tried to treat it like all the other matches and pretend like it was a first-round match," said Brady.
"I was happy with the way I started and I think I was able to keep the momentum and build off that."
Brady, whose lead-up to the US Open included a maiden WTA title at Lexington, had all facets of her game clicking early as she broke twice on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to race to a 4-0 lead before wrapping up the first set in 34 minutes.
Putintseva, seeded 23rd, had no answer in the second set as Brady broke three times for a 5-2 lead before securing the win on her first match point when she successfully challenged a service return that sailed long.
"I was waiting for the 'out' call," Brady said of the match point. "I was pretty confident that it was out but I was like I really hope it is out. I didn't want to play another point after that to be honest."
Brady, 25, entered her latest match having never won a set off Putintseva in their two previous career meetings, which both came before the American's breakout season.
"Last couple of times I played her I got caught into playing her game," said Brady. "I don't think I'm better than her at just running and making balls so I definitely was a lot more aggressive today."
Up next for Brady will be the winner of another Tuesday clash between former champion Naomi Osaka, the fourth seed, and unseeded American Shelby Rogers.
Alexander Zverev, meanwhile, is into a second straight major semi-final after fighting back to beat 27th seed Borna Coric.
Coric, who beat Australia's Jordan Thompson in the round of 16, got off to a flying start to take the first set before surrendering the next two in tie-breakers to fall 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 to the German fifth seed.
"It's obviously a great accomplishment but I don't want to stop here," Zverev, the first German to reach the semis at Flushing Meadows since Boris Becker in 1995, said on-court.
"It's great to be in the semi-finals and unfortunately we haven't been there in 25 years but I hope there's going to be many more after me and I hope I can continue doing what I'm doing."
Reuters