Inherit the wind

The wind was bad enough when Vera Zvonareva and Kaia Kanepi played their quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open this afternoon, but it became worse when Caroline Wozniacki and Dominika Cibulkova showed up for their match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Debris occasionally flew onto the court ball tosses looked almost impossible, and top seed Wozniacki's hair whipped around furiously.

Not surprisingly, Wozniacki figured out a way to deal with the wind about halfway through the first set, which she won 6-2. In the second set, Cibulkova learned to manage the wind a bit better and played with relative aggression. But it was the ever-steady Wozniacki who patiently held on while her opponent made 43 unforced errors. (Because of the wind, most of the errors in this match could probably pass as "unforced"). Cibulkova put up a fight in the second set, and--for a while--looked as though she were staging a serious comeback, but she was broken at 5-all. The 1st seed held for 7-5, and she is now scheduled to play a semifinal match against Vera Zvonareva.

Wozniacki hit twelve winners to Cibulkova's twenty, but she made only eighteen unforced errors.