Rafael Nadal won his 60th match of the tennis seasons today.

As Serena and Clijsters have shown, champions are a breed above. Zvonareva had beaten Clijsters in their two previous meetings in 2010 but that didn’t matter in a pressure-packed Grand Slam final. Venus and Sharapova were once there, but they won’t win another Slam.

“I am wanting to celebrate this win now and not talk about the past,” said Zvonareva, who last year exited the Open in a sobbing, racquet-smashing fit.

A preview of the US Open women’s semifinals.

Nadal is trying to complete a career Grand Slam at age 24. The other Saturday semifinal will feature Federer against Novak Djokovic. Nadal has won his last 19 Grand Slam matches, and in Youzhny faces an opponent who beat him in the 2006 US Open quarterfinals, before he gets a shot at his Swiss nemesis.

It is the second straight Grand Slam semifinal for The Crying Game, who benefited from a whopping 60 errors from Kanepi.

Could Robin Soderling be the foil tonight a potential Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal Sunday showdown?

“I don’t see how I got a blister after sitting on my [expletive deleted] for two days,” Azarenka said.

“We play tournaments every week and it’s our job,” Zvonareva said. “We are used to it, so that doesn’t matter. But it’s difficult for the fans. We see a lot of people walking around with umbrellas. We really appreciate them coming and trying to watch us play. They have been great all week, so supportive of all the players. We can only imagine how disappointing it has been for them.”

The sadly-slowing American drumbeat goes on this week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open. World No. 1 Serena Williams is sidelined with a cut foot, and elder sister Venus is out with a tweaked knee. No Americans are seeded, and only one American, Melanie Oudin, got directly into the main draw via her ranking (barely).

Loaded non-seeded field with former No. 1s Ivanovic and Safina, and former No. 2 Kuznetsova unseeded; first-round match-ups of interest are (6) Bartoli vs. Hantuchova, (7) Peer vs. (WC) Ivanovic, (8) Wickmayer vs. Kuznetsova, and potential second-round match-ups after seeded byes (1) Jankovic vs. Rezai and Stosur vs. Azarenka or Oudin

After the smoke clearer, world No. 1 Serena Williams showed that perhaps her only equal on tour is injury.

Williams brings a 12-3 record in Grand Slam finals into the championship match, and is 3-2 in Wimbledon finals, lifting the trophy in 2002, 2003 and 2009. She was runner-up in 2004 and 2008. A heavy favorite in the final, the younger Williams sister is 5-1 career against Zvonareva, and this will be their first meeting on grass.

Is the No. 21-seeded Russian through with cracking under the pressure and breaking into tears during and after matches?

Sean Randall breaks down the Wimbledon women’s quarterfinals.