Zvonareva reaches first US semi-final

RUSSIA’S Vera Zvonareva last night reached the semi-finals of the US Open for the first time in her career with a hard-fought win over Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.

Zvonareva, the seventh seed, coped better with the blustery conditions at Flushing Meadows to win a scrappy contest 6-3 7-5 on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The 26-year-old will face either top seed Caroline Wozniacki or the unseeded Dominika Cibulkova in the last four as she attempts to reach her second successive Grand Slam final, having lost to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final earlier this year.