It’s almost here — the inevitable Sunday final between No. 2 Victoria Azarenka and No. 1 Serena Williams.
But not quite yet. Azarenka completed the semifinals pairings last night, becoming the only entrant under 30 as she swept past Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-3.
Azarenka gets an unlikely foe in tomorrow’s semis, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, who upset No. 10 Roberta Vinci in yesterday’s quarterfinal to add to her improbable run after entering the Open ranked 83rd. Penneta missed the 2012 Open with a wrist injury that saw her ranking drop from 17 to 166 in June and will be monstrous underdog vs. Azarenka.
Azarenka, who upset Williams three weeks ago in Cincinnati, couldn’t avoid the Serena questions.
Asked if Serena has crept in her mind, Azarenka said, “No not yet. I don’t really watch a lot of TV. Plus, she played too quick all the matches.’’
Azarenka closed the first set on Hantuchova by winning 10 straight points, including getting to a drop-shot on triple-set point. At 24, she’s the baby of the final four. Williams faces Li Na in the other semifinal tomorrow.
“I think the stat the other players being over 30, it just shows our sport taking the physical ability on another level,’’ Azarenka said. “Everybody’s taking caré of their bodies. I feel like I have been on tour forever, playing full time since 16.’’
Despite her poor ranking, Pennetta has been to three Open quarterfinals — in 2008, 2009, and 2011. Now she’s finally got past that stage but enters a buzzsaw in Azarenka.
“Everyone asks me the same thing,” Pennetta said, when asked about why New York brought about the best in her game. “I just enjoy [playing] here.”
“The ranking doesn’t matter,’’ Azarenka said. “She’s playing terrific tennis. She’s been a top 10 player.’’
**One could forgive Serena and Venus Williams if they experienced a case of déjà vu. Last year, they lost in the third round of doubles on Louis Armstrong Stadium to the Russian team of Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova. This time, the sisters made sure that wouldn’t happen again, and set themselves up for revenge to boot, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova 6-1, 7-6 (3) on Armstrong to advance to the quarterfinals. They will now take on today the world’s top-ranked doubles and defending Open champs, the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. It was in Australia earlier this year when the sisters lost to Errani and Vinci in three sets in the quarterfinals.
**Monica Seles, who will be inducted into the Open’s Court of Champions Sunday, will be available for fan “Question and Answer” sessions at the U.S. Open’s Time Warner Cable Experience area at 4 p.m. today.