Szavy's run ended by Kuznetsova

Kuznetsova avoided becoming the third seeded player to fall to Szavy, the 18-year-old Hungarian who had the best women's debut at Flushing Meadows since American Venus Williams made it to the finals in 1997.

The outcome was hardly in doubt after Kuznetsova won the first three games in just nine minutes. Szavy, who had not dropped a set in the first four rounds, committed eight unforced errors in the opening set and took far too long to recover from her sloppy start.

"I had so much energy out there and I thought I was nervous but I could control it and I'm really happy with the way I played in the first set," Kuznetsova said.

Szavy finally came to life midway through the second set as she bounced back from a 4-1 deficit to win the next two games and held serve to pull within 5-4. But Kuznetsova finished the final game by winning three straight points and advanced when Szavy's return on match point failed to clear the net.

Kuznetsova moved into the last four at Flushing Meadows for the first time since winning the title in 2004 and will face fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze, who advanced to her first career Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Israeli Shahar Peer.

The sixth-seeded Chakvetadze, who lost in the quarters of the Australian and French Opens this year, seemed in danger of dropping the first set before winning 10 of the next 11 games.

The 20-year-old Russian lost her serve in the opening game of the second set but was unfazed, winning the final six.

Israeli Peer had break point in the fifth game but hit a forehand long to lose the advantage and Chakvetadze easily won the next two points to build a 4-1 cushion.

Chakvetadze wasted little time putting away the match, smashing a forehand which hit the line to capture her fifth consecutive straight-sets victory.