US Open: China’s Zhang Shuai and Samantha Stosur into semi-finals in New York for first time since 2018
- First semi-final appearance in New York since 2018 for veteran Chinese-Australian pairing, who are yet to drop a set this year
- Winners of 2019 Australian Open progress to last four after beating Caroline Dolehide and Storm Sanders
Zhang and Stosur, the 14th seeds in New York, beat the No 10 seeds Storm Sanders of Australia and Caroline Dolehide of the US in straight sets.
The 6-2, 6-3 win over the Wimbledon semi-finalists means that Zhang and Stosur are yet to drop a set at this year’s US Open.
Zhang, 32, and Stosur, 37, reached the semi-finals at the 2018 tournament ahead of their best grand slam finish, winning the 2019 Australian Open.
Victory in the quarter-final came in one hour and 21 minutes, with the game stopped for several minutes after a problem with the electronic line calling system.
Zhang and Stosur seal doubles crown in Cincinnati
They will play either the Romanian duo of Monica Niculescu and Elena-Gabriela Ruse or the pairing of Alexa Guarachi of Chile and Desirae Krawczyk of the US in the semi-finals.
Zhang is the only player from China at this year’s US Open after all of her eligible compatriots instead chose to compete at China’s National Games.
The Tianjin-native also played in the women’s singles, where she lost to rising star Emma Raducanu, and in the mixed doubles where she and partner John Peers of Australia lost to the top seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Nicole Melichar of the US in an epic three-setter.
