Anna Chakvetadze beats Peer to get to 1st Grand Slam semifinal at U.S. Open

Sept 5 - Anna Chakvetadze reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, taking the last six games Wednesday to beat Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-1 at the U.S. Open.

The sixth-seeded Chakvetadze never had been as far as a major quarterfinal until this year, when she lost at that stage at the Australian Open and French Open. But from 4-4 in the first set, the Russian took control against the No. 18 Peer, the first woman from Israel to play in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

"I just started to play more aggressive," Chakvetadze said.

Simple as that.

"That's why Anna is a top-10 player -- she's playing really good tennis the last few months," Peer said, "and I think it's just a matter of time (until) I will get there."

Chakvetadze next faces 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova or unseeded Agnes Szavay , who played their quarterfinal later Wednesday.