Two-time former champion Venus Williams battled past Petra Kvitova to reach the semi-finals of the US Open Her 6-3 3-6 7-6(2) triumph sees her set up an all-American meeting with Sloane Stephens with a place in the final at stake Kvitova admitted that she surpassed her own expectations in the tournament with her run to the quarter-finals coming just nine months after hand surgery following a knife attack in her own home