NEW YORK—Roberta Vinci charmed the New York crowd with her exuberant semifinal speech last year.
Vinci confounded Lesia Tsurenko with her varied spins today.
US Open: Live Blog, Day 7
On the breeziest day of the tournament, the seventh-seeded Italian played shrewd ball-control tennis defeating Tsurenko, 7-6 (5), 6-2, to return to the US Open quarterfinals for the fourth time in the last five years.
Afterward, Vinci said back pain and a left leg injury limited her to practicing just 10 minutes in recent days and winning the first set imperative.
"On the tiebreak a lot of pressure.But I said, I have to win this set, because I think the key was to win the first set," Vinci said. "I was tired; she was tired also. So 7-6 for me, and then I won another great game, 1-0 for her, 40-15. I won that game, so 1-All, and then I was starting to play much better than in the first set. I think she was tired at the end."
Stress struck Vinci before she even struck a shot in Flushing Meadows.
The woman who was ranked No. 43 when she shocked Serena Williams in the 2015 semifinals to deny the world No. 1's Grand Slam quest and snap her 33-match winning streak has been bearing the burden of defending those ranking points in Flushing Meadows.
The former doubles world No. 1 opened the tournament knowing she needed to return to the final to retain her Top 10 ranking. Vinci has navigated week one obstacles playing with plenty of positive emotion and her mixing her spins and speeds to unsettling effect.
"Well, great memories (of playing here). It is always on my mind," Vinci said. "I know it's tough to repeat again the same results of last year, but I'm in the quarterfinal. I have won four matches here. I don't want to stop. I want to continue.
"At the beginning of the tournament I didn't expect quarterfinal, because also my body wasn't so good. But I'm really happy that I'm still in tournament. Well, last year was an incredible moment for me, and I want to try my best also this year."
Vinci won three of the first four games before the 99th-ranked Tsurenko answered with a three-game run. The turning point came with Vinci serving at 4-5.
The 2015 finalist fought through a tense game converting her fifth game point to level.
Tsurenko, who knocked off Dominika Cibulkova in round three, drew a forehand error to snatch a 5-4 tie break lead, but her forehand failed her down the stretch.
Wilting in tie break tension, Tsurenko committed three straight forehand errors as Vinci prevailed in the 67-minute opener.
Vinci won four of the first five games to open the second set and never looked back.
Labor Day weekend in New York has turned out to be a veteran's weekend.
The 33-year-old Vinci is the first woman into the last eight the day after 34-year-old Serena Williams scored her 307th career Grand Slam match win to break the Open Era-record she shared with Martina Navratilova.
Tomorrow, 36-year-old Venus Williams faces 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova for a quarterfinal spot.
Vinci will have to step it up to return to the semifinals as she will face either Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber or two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova next. Vinci has split four meetings with Kerber and is 3-3 lifetime against Kvitova.
Photo credit: US Open/USTA