Semi-Finals Day 2022

Five Things to Know

1. Caroline Garcia of France is only the third qualifier to reach the women’s semifinals in the Open Era of the Western & Southern Open (1969) and the first since 2007 (Akgul Amanmuradova). She has won six straight matches, including two in qualifying, and has upset the fourth and seventh seeds. No qualifier has ever reached the final here. She faces sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka.
2. Borna Coric, who is ranked No. 152 and entered the field with a protected injury ranking, has defeated three seeds en route to the semifinals. Coric is the second-lowest-ranked Cincinnati semifinalist since the start of the ATP rankings in August 1973 (No. 203 Byron Bertram in 1975).
3. Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has made his third straight Western & Southern Open semifinal. He has fallen at this stage the two previous years, last year losing to eventual champion Alexander Zverev in a third-set tie-break. He is also in the doubles semifinals as a wild card team with Holger Rune. Tsitsipas is the first ATP player to reach singles and doubles semifinals here since Max Mirnyi in 2003. He is looking to be the first player to reach both finals since Stefan Edberg in 1993.
4. Petra Kvitova is playing in Cincinnati for the 11th time, tying the women’s record, and has reached her first Western & Southern Open semifinal. She is playing with house money, having saved a match point in the first round over last year’s finalist Jil Teichmann. She went on to upset world No. 5 Ons Jabeur in the third round. At age 32, Kvitova is the fifth-oldest women’s semifinalist in the tournament’s Open Era (1969).
5. Cameron Norrie, a former collegiate No. 1 while playing at Texas Christian University, is the first former college player to reach the Western & Southern Open semifinals since former Georgia Bulldog John Isner did so in 2017.

Fun Fact

American Madison Keys, the 2019 champion, has defeated three Grand Slam Major winners en route to the semifinals including the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champions. She’ll face a fourth Major winner in the semis, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Making History

Only one of the four players in the women’s semifinals is seeded. That has happened only once before in the history of the women’s tournament, in 1960. In 1933, there were no seeded women in the semifinals. Seeding began in 1927 and the women’s event was played most years between 1899-1973, then again in 1988, before returning for good in 2004.

More History

John Isner hit 87 aces during his four matches this week, which ties for the third-most in a single year at the Western & Southern Open. He owns the record with 102 hit in 2017, and Milos Raonic is second with 98 hit in 2020. Isner’s 2022 tally ties him with Mardy Fish’s 2010 tally and Ivo Karlovic in 2008.