Pennetta and Gasquet Gain Long-Awaited Semifinal Berths

Flavia Pennetta had to feel the same nerves as her friend Roberta Vinci across the net at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday.

Each player was fighting for her first career semifinal berth in a Grand Slam tournament, and each considered the United States Open to be her favorite event. They had played each other almost their whole lives, and they carried the same burden: lifting Italian tennis to a new level.

But as the occasion turned into an actual tennis match, anticipation replaced by serves and ground strokes and strategy, Pennetta shed those nerves for something altogether different in her 6-4, 6-1 victory: joy. 

“It’s amazing,” she said. “I’m really happy. I cannot believe it. It was really tough today, playing against Roberta. I was trying to play my tennis, trying to be aggressive and it worked out perfectly.”

Her breakthrough was matched by another in the men’s quarterfinal that followed on Ashe, where No. 8 Richard Gasquet of France made the second Grand Slam semifinal of his career, six years after the first. 

Gasquet’s triumph also did not come without considerable effort, his 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3 victory over No. 4 David Ferrer requiring 3 hours 23 minutes to complete, just two days after Gasquet needed five sets and 4:40 to win his fourth-round match over Milos Raonic. 

“It’s a big match for me, a big victory,” Gasquet said, recalling how long it has taken him to reach the semifinals in a big tournament again. “I’m 27. The last time I did it, I was 21. It means a lot to me.” 

Gasquet carried hopes of a high moment in an up-and-down career, one marred by injuries and a brief drug ban in 2009. He also plays in an era dominated by Rafael Nadal (Gasquet’s potential semifinal opponent), Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. 

Pennetta’s joy stemmed from her long, frustrating comeback from a wrist surgery last year, which cost her the chance to play in the Open last year. Pennetta said the pain and its accompanying cloud of doubt had finally parted. 

“I didn’t play my best tennis the last six months and I just try to keep working and working the same way,” she said. “I am starting to feel more my forehand, my backhand. Everything is starting to feel more normal in the way it was before the injury. I play really good tennis here, I think.” 

Pennetta, 31, became the third women’s semifinalists over age 30, along with No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 5 Li Na. (No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, 24, plays Daniela Hantuchova, 30, for the remaining berth Wednesday night.), Pennetta was dealt the extra complication of the injury, at a time when an upsurge in talent among Italian women threatened to knock her from her perch atop that group. 

Pennetta earned the distinction of Italy’s first top 10 women’s player when she reached that mark in 2009, but her injury absence last year sent her spiraling back. She has climbed back to her current spot of 83, still looking up at her countrywomen Sara Errani (No. 5), Vinci (No. 13), Francesca Schiavone (54) and Karin Knapp (55), and faces the rise of 21-year-old Camila Giorgi, who reached the fourth round at the Open before losing to Vinci. 

Pennetta, though, gave her run here a boost by routing Errani in the second round, 6-3, 6-1. The draw clumped five of the six Italian players in one quarter, forcing them to keep running into one another on the court. Pennetta vs. Vinci in the quarterfinals was the most intimate meeting of all because they have been close friends the longest, having grown up in nearby towns and only a year apart in age. 

“With Roberta, it’s more I think because we really grow up together,” Pennetta said before the match. “Like we went in the Italian Federation when she was 12 and I was 13 or something like that. We shared a room for four years. So she’s more like a sister.” 

In this case, the older sister had a definite advantage. She truly was just happy to be here, back at the Grand Slam where she has had her most success. She had reached the Open quarterfinals three times before this year, having beaten then-No. 3 Maria Sharapova in the third round in 2011. 

But she was home last year when Vinci and Errani, who are doubles partners, fashioned their all-Italian quarterfinal, which Errani won. Vinci again seemed the more nervous of the two Italians in Wednesday’s match, but neither player could establish anything on her serve in the first set. 

They traded five service breaks, the last one coming in the final game, when Pennetta grabbed the set. The two play similar games, mixing rushes to the net with a strong baseline game. Vinci tried forcing the play by rushing the net a lot in the first set, but she won only 12 of 23 points there, as Pennetta zipped some excellent passing shots by her. 

“I think in the beginning we didn’t play good tennis,” Pennetta said. “I was tight. She was tight also. When I won the first set, I just relaxed a little and tried to play better.” 

In the second set, Vinci came undone and could muster little in the way of a challenge. When it was over, the disappointment of falling short in this round for a second straight year — to a friend again, no less — was etched on her face even as she warmly congratulated Pennetta. 

Gasquet’s victory came with many of the same emotions that Pennetta felt, but it took a lot longer to get there. This is often what happens when playing Ferrer, who specializes in long, grueling matches that he usually wins once they turn into a test of wills. 

That’s what this one became after Gasquet won the first two sets, playing magnificently and keeping Ferrer running futilely after his shots. 

“He was a little nervous and I saw that,” Gasquet said. “I was a little bit tired. I had the big match against Raonic.” 

That fatigue and Ferrer’s stubbornness then turned this match into another marathon. It was not until the fifth set when Gasquet regained his footing, overpowering Ferrer on his service games. Ferrer would face only one break point in the set, when he picked the worst possible time for his third double fault of the match. It was the opening Gasquet needed. 

He now faces the prospect of a semifinal match against Nadal, who plays his quarterfinal match against Tommy Robredo Wednesday night. Gasquet has never beaten Nadal in 10 meetings as pros.

“Last time I won against him, I was 13 years old,” Gasquet said. “I beat him one time in my life. Now, I will see. He is a good friend of mine. If I play against him, I have nothing to lose.”