The unseeded Chinese player, Peng Shuai who has had a great run up to the semi-finals met a match that she couldn’t defeat during a blistering lunch time encounter at the US Open.

Her opponent was Caroline Wozniacki (10) who has proven to be more than a worthy competitor during this year’s tournament.

If you are a betting person, you would’ve had reason to be nervous in the first set as the players matched each other shot for shot. Each had a break of serve and then there was the tiebreaker which Wozniacki won 7-6.

Then the heat and cramps set in

Wozniacki was dominant in the second set despite Peng holding on. Wozniacki led 4-3 and was serving when Peng was forced to take a medical timeout for 10 minutes after suffering the effects of the heat and cramps. She returned to the court looking visibly distressed and despite trying to continue, ended up on her knees and had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair.

In the second semi-final, top seed Serena Williams needed only 1 hour to end Ekaterina Makarova’s hopes of reaching her first grand slam final with a 6-1 6-3 victory. Williams gave Makarova no chance of trying to find her rhythm as she dominated the match from the start.