The US Open 2022 Ladies Final is set. Some great semi-finals were played on day 11. The first match on was between 5th seeded Jabeur and 17th seed Garcia. Garcia was playing her first semi-final which meant that she had to get off to a good start to get rid of the nerves. She was serving first which meant a hold of serve was desperately needed for her. Sadly for her Jabeur broke first game which was the perfect start for the Tunisian. Jabeur held and Garcia impressively held which meant she was on the board and could hopefully play freely which is what got her to the semi-final in the first place. Jabeur then held and broke twice to win 4 consecutive games and the opening set. An impressive performance so far from the Wimbledon finalist. The start of the 2nd set was important for both players but especially for Garcia. Jabeur though broke in the 4th game and was up once again 3-1. The next game was an extremely important one in the match. Game 5 of the 2nd set was a long one for Jabeur but she managed to come through it to lead 4-1. 4 holds of serve later and we had our first ladies finalist. Jabeur made it back to back grand slam finals. Can she get over the line this time round?

The 2nd semi-final was between number 1 in the world Swiatek and 6th seed Sabalenka. The match started with 2 holds of serve and then 2 breaks of serve to make it 2-2. Sabalenka then managed to break again and this time won her service game to love to lead 4-2 in the opening set. 2 holds of serve later and it was Sabalenka who led the match 5-3. Sabalenka then played a clean return game which meant she avoided having to serve out the opening set. Was Sabalenka about to knock out the number 1 seed? Swiatek started the 2nd set by winning 8 points in a row to lead 2-0. Sabalenka managed to hold in a tight game to make it 2-1. Swiatek then won her service game to love to mean that she was yet to drop a point on serve after 2 service games. Another long service game for the 6th seed which didn’t go her way meant that Swiatek had the double break. Swiatek found herself 40-0 up again before Sabalenka made it deuce. Thankfully for Swiatek she managed to hold and the 2nd set was pretty much wrapped up at 5-1. A good return game once again and the 2nd set was done and we were heading into a deciding set . The start of the 3rd set was so important for Sabalenka after losing the 2nd set so quickly. The 6th seed however got the start she wanted as she broke Swiatek in the very first game and she managed to hold to lead 2-0. An important service game now for Swiatek at 0-2. Swiatek held impressively and then once again found her way into a Sabalenka service game. It was 2-2 and level once again. The 5th game was another break of serve as both ladies struggled to hold. Sabalenka was once again up a break in the decider. She then held in a tight game where she had to save a break point. Sabalenka looked on her way at 4-2 in the decider. Swiatek though held to 15 to make it 4-3 and then amazingly broke to love to make it level again at 4-4. She then held reasonably comfortably and it was 3 games in a row for the number 1 in the world. She was a game away from another grand slam final. Sabalenka once again found herself 0-40 down and was 3 match points down. She saved one but the 2nd one was taken and Swiatek would join Jabeur in the US Open final. What a final this could be!

Both ladies who lost on day 11 were picked by people. Garcia was picked by 27 people and scored a total of 38 points. Sabalenka was picked by 11 people and managed to score a total of 37 points. Both ladies proving to be great picks.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and ‘Drop Shots’ will be pleased to see that he is once again the only team in the lead. 5 points behind in 2nd place is ‘My Dream Team’. ‘Eish’ drops to 3rd and is 1 point behind 2nd and 6 points behind first. ‘Simply Smashing’ occupies 4th spot with ‘Hit and Run’ coming in 5th. ‘Stefanos Toiletpas’ moves up 4 spots and out of nowhere becomes a contender for a prize.

Ladies Semi-Final Results:

• Jabeur(5) beat Garcia(17) – 6-1; 6-3
• Swiatek(1) beat Sabalenka(6) – 3-6; 6-1; 6-4

Men’s Semi-Finals

• Khachanov(27) vs Ruud(5) (21:00)
• Alcaraz(3) vs Tiafoe(22) (01:00)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.