US Open: Venus Williams Beats Petra Kvitova To Reach Semifinals (Watch Highlights)

Venus Williams has advanced to her 23rd Grand Slam semifinal and is now one step closer to reaching her third Grand Slam final of 2017 after defeating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) in a thrilling quarterfinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night.

Venus Williams Quarterfinal US Open Score

The 37-year-old American — a two-time U.S. Open champion — eliminated her 13th-seeded Czech opponent to enter her first semifinal in Flushing, Queens since 2010.

Williams — who reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals earlier this year and lost to sister Serena in the former — thanked the crowd at Arthur Ashe for standing by her.

“I have to say I felt every single one of you guys behind me, all 23,000,” Williams said, smiling. “That feels good and I didn’t want to let you guys down. Thanks for the support.”

The ninth-seeded American began her post-match interview, however, by praising 27-year-old Kvitova, whose participation in the U.S. Open marked her first major tennis tournament since she was attacked with a knife in a home invasion in December 2016. The assailant stabbed Kvitova in her left (playing) hand, which required surgery.

“First of all, everything she’s been through, it’s unbelievable,” Williams said of her Czech opponent after her match, which lasted 2 hours and 34 minutes. “You don’t wake up imagining you’ll go through that. I was fortunate to win that match. It came down to the wire. I’m wishing her more titles and more wins.”

Williams has reached eight U.S. Open semifinals since first playing at the event in 1998. Should she win the tournament, she could become No. 2 in the World. The American played fantastically in the third-set tiebreaker, only losing two points, although she double-faulted on her first match point at 6-1. Williams then sealed the victory on her second match point by forcing Kvitova into a backhand return error off a powerful serve.

Williams will next face fellow American Sloane Stephens in the first women’s semi-final on Thursday. This will mark Stephens’ first semifinal appearance at the U.S. Open. She advanced by defeating 16th-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 36-, 7-6 (7-4) on Tuesday.

The last time Williams reached three finals in one season was in 2002.

On the men’s side, 17th-seeded American Sam Querrey was eliminated Tuesday after losing to South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-7, 7-6, 3-6, 6-7, while Spanish 12th seed Pablo Carreño Busta has reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win over Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman. Busta and Anderson will face off in the first men’s semifinal on Friday.

The other two remaining men’s quarterfinals are Rafael Nadal against Russian teen Andrey Rublev at 1:15 pm EST on Wednesday, and Roger Federer against 24th-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro at 8:15 pm EST.

NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 03: Venus Williams of the United States returns a shot during her women’s singles fourth round match against Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain on Day Seven of the 2017 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 3, 2017 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)