Rain stops play leaving only Vinci to advance at expense of Giorgi

Tenth seed Roberta Vinci beat the rain to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open for the second successive year.
Roberta VinciRoberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci

The Italian ended the run of her countrywoman Camila Giorgi with a 6-4 6-2 victory and will play either in-form Romanian Simona Halep or another Italian, Flavia Pennetta, in the last eight.

Halep and Pennetta were coming towards the end of the second set in their match when the heavens opened just before 12.30pm New York time.

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The courts were dried twice but there was not enough of a break to get the players back out and by mid-afternoon, aside from juniors, Vinci was the only player to have completed her match.

Giorgi came through qualifying and beat sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the third round, but made 35 unforced errors compared to Vinci’s nine.

Vinci, 30, reached the last eight in singles at a grand slam for the first time here 12 months ago but lost to doubles partner and best friend Sara Errani.

It was Giorgi who made the better start but from 4-1 up lost six games in a row, and Vinci was the stronger player in the second.

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She was relieved to beat the weather, saying: “I’m happy, of course. Now I have a lot of time to rest and to play doubles. Of course I was lucky.”

Vinci hopes she will meet Pennetta in the quarter-finals, and she added: “Italian tennis is going up, and it’s nice, of course.

“In the quarter-finals, if Flavia won, another Italian girl goes to the semi-finals. So it’s good for Italian tennis.”

Serena Williams gained revenge for her Australian Open defeat by sweeping past Sloane Stephens and into the quarter-finals when she ran out a 6-4 6-1 winner in the early hours of yesterday.

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Williams will now play Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro after the 18th seed came through a battle against eighth seed Angelique Kerber 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7/3). Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska became the biggest casualty of the women’s draw after losing 6-4 6-4 to Ekaterina Makarova.