The 26th seed looked the sharper of the two Italians in the early exchanges and she made a breakthrough in an extraordinary game as Vinci finally lost her serve after saving six break points
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The pair have eight singles titles between them at Flushing Meadows, but it is Serena who remains in contention to clinch her seventh triumph in New York after a dramatic clash
Both players battled out a tight first set as neither gave away their serve
The 33-year-old American has won the last four Grand Slams, dating back to last year’s US Open, and if she defends her title at Flushing Meadows later this summer she will become the fourth woman to complete the calendar Grand Slam
A day after Nadal made sure of wresting the No. 1 ranking away from Djokovic, the Serb gained some consolation by beating his big rival 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to claim his fourth China Open title in five years
Nadal advanced 4-2 into the title match in the capital as opponent, Tomas Berdych, retired with back pains