U.S. Open tennis: Serena Williams, Daniil Medvedev reach semifinals

Sept. 9 (UPI) -- No. 3 seed Serena Williams dropped the first set but rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday in the U.S. Open quarterfinals at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, N.Y.

With the victory, Williams advanced to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the 11th consecutive time. She is now two wins away from claiming a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title.

"I never give up," Williams, who had 20 aces, said. "I've just got to keep going. ... In the beginning, I was a little fatigued, for whatever reason. Obviously I can't do that if I want to keep winning, so I need to figure that out."

Williams, who turns 39 in less than three weeks, has captured six championships at the U.S. Open and has been the runner-up at the event four times -- including in 2018 and 2019. She will face unseeded Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals.

Later Wednesday, Azarenka beat No. 16 Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-0 to set up the semifinal meeting against Williams.

On the men's side, No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev punched his ticket to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the second straight year.

Medvedev, the 2019 U.S. Open men's runner-up, beat fellow Russian and 10th-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-6 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (5) Wednesday to advance. Medvedev hasn't dropped a set in the tournament to this point and never faced a break point against Rublev.

Medvedev will play either No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem or No. 21 Alex De Minaur in the semifinals. The other semifinal match will be fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev versus No. 20 Pablo Carreno Busta.