Roberta Vinci, Marin Cilic are first to advance to U.S. Open semifinals

NEW YORK – Roberta Vinci and Marin Cilic were the first two players to advance to the U.S. Open semifinals on Tuesday. Catch up on the news and results from Day 9 below.

Marin Cilic keeps his title defense alive: Defending U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic continued his winning streak in New York on Tuesday. Though he extended his streak to 12 matches, Cilic needed five sets and nearly four hours to beat No. 19 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(3), 6–4. After going down two sets, Tsonga surged in the third set and saved two match points in the fourth set to hold at 5-5 and force a tiebreak. No. 9 Cilic returns to the semifinals and will play the winner of Tuesday night's match between Novak Djokovic and Feliciano Lopez.

Roberta Vinci reaches her first Grand Slam semifinal: At age 32, Roberta Vinci advanced to her first major semifinal on Tuesday with a 6–3, 5–7, 6–4 win over Kristina Mladenovic. Unseeded at a major for the first time since 2010, Vinci came out firing vs. the 22-year-old Mladenovic. But Mladenovic, who was fighting injuries and took a medical time out to deal with the effects of the high temperatures, rallied to claim the second set. In the end, the veteran Italian pulled out the win.

"I'm 32. I'm not young. So probably my experience today help me a lot," Vinci said after the match. "Of course I think I'm at the end of my career, so my semifinal, first semifinal, it's incredible. You know, when you work hard for a long time and every single day, sometimes you have some periods down and try to come back. It's not always easy. But it's nice. I'm very proud of myself."

The World No. 43 will play the winner of Serena vs. Venus Williams, who play on Tuesday night on Arthur Ashe.

SNAPSHOTS FROM DAY 9

U.S. Open 2015 Day 9

Kristina Mladenovic

Roberta Vinci

Kristina Mladenovic

Roberta Vinci

Marin Cilic

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Marin Cilic

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Serena Williams

Venus and Serena Williams

Venus Williams

Serena Williams

Venus Williams

Serena Williams

Serena and Venus Williams

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