NEW YORK: For stretches of the 27th edition of Williams v Williams, Venus gave Serena all she could handle.

And when Serena took control down the stretch to emerge with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory in a well-played US Open quarter-final on Tuesday, allowing her to continue pursuing the first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a quarter-century, a smiling Venus wrapped both arms around her little sister for a warm hug at the net and whispered, “So happy for you.”

“Obviously we are very, very tough competitors on the court,” World number one Serena said later, “but once the match is over, the second it’s done, you know, we’re sisters, we’re roommates, and we’re all that.”

Serena called their unique sibling rivalry “the greatest story in tennis,” and who would argue? A couple of kids taught by their dad on cement courts in Compton, California, making it all the way to the top.

With two more match wins, Serena would become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to collect all four Grand Slam titles in a single season.

Plus, if she can win what would be her fourth US Open in a row, and seventh overall, she would equal Graf with 22 major championships, the most in the professional era and second-most ever behind Margaret Court’s 24.

“That would be huge, not just for me, but for my family, just for what it represents and how hard we have worked and where we come from. So it would be a moment for our family,” said the 23rd-seeded Venus, who is 15 months older. “But at the same time, if it doesn’t happen it’s not going to make or break you. We don’t have anything to prove. She has nothing to prove. She’s really the best ever.”

Playing at a high level throughout, the sisters staged a classic at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which was jam-packed with 23,771 fans, including such celebrities as US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump and TV mogul Oprah Winfrey.

Serena fired 35 winners with 22 unforced errors and 12 aces, the last coming on match point. Venus had 24 winners, 15 unforced errors and eight aces.

“She’s the toughest player I ever played in my life and the best person I know,” said Serena in an on-court interview after advancing to a final four meeting with unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci.

“So it’s going against your best friend and at the same time going against the greatest competitor for me in women’s tennis, so it was really difficult today.”

Playing under the bright lights on the biggest stage in tennis, the Williams show crackled with more tension and drama than a Broadway production, relegating men’s champion Marin Cilic to a warm-up act while world number one Novak Djokovic pulled mop up duty.

For those who did stick around the National Tennis Center until the early hours of Wednesday morning they were treated to more superb tennis as Djokovic fought off a challenge from 18th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).

MARIN Cilic of Croatia celebrates after beating France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in their quarter-final.—Reuters

In front of a subdued Arthur Ashe which had thinned out after the Williams blockbuster, Lopez managed just five points on the Djokovic serve in the 25-minute first set and was broken twice.

But Lopez rallied in the second set, breaking in the second game on his way to a 4-1 lead. Djokovic saved one set point but a 10th ace gave serve-and-volleyer Lopez the set 6-3.

The Serb, bidding for a 10th Grand Slam title in New York, took the only break of the third set off a Lopez double fault in the second game and then played the perfect tie-breaker in the fourth to take victory.

“Feliciano is one of those rare players who serves and volleys on first and second serves,” said 28-year-old Djokovic after winnning a ninth successive quarter-final in New York. “I played it well and I am happy to get through in four.”

Djokovic’s semi-final opponent on Friday will be ninth-seeded Croat Cilic, who edged 19th-seeded Frenchman Jo Wilfried-Tsonga 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.

Earlier, Italian Vinci needed a similar gritty effort to see off another player from France, Kristina Mladenovic, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on another sizzling hot day at Flushing Meadows.

Cilic squandered three match points in the fourth set but came up strong in the fifth to stretch his Flushing Meadows win streak to 12 matches.

“It was a big mental fight, especially after losing that fourth set,” Cilic said after the four-hour match. “Physically, it was very demanding.”

Demanding, yes, but nearly as hot as the conditions faced by Vinci and Mladenovic who played the opening match of the day on a baking Arthur Ashe.

The 32-year-old Vinci showed off her fighting spirit while Mladenovic, a decade younger, wilted in the punishing conditions using up all of her medical timeouts during the two-hour, 32-minute test.

A doubles specialist with a career Grand Slam on her resume, Vinci finally cracked the solo code to move onto the final four in singles at a major for the first time in her 18-year career.

Vinci is 0-4 against Serena and joked about wearing a helmet for protection from some of the 33-year-old American’s booming shots.

“She’s the favourite. Maybe she’ll feel the pressure. Who knows? It all depends on her. If she serves well, it’s tough to return,” Vinci said. “But I have nothing to lose.”

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2015

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