King, Shvedova gain revenge, reach doubles semis

   Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova avenged a devastating loss and advanced to the women's doubles semifinals at the U.S. Open.
   The third seeds and defending champions beat eighth-seeded Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5 Thursday in Flushing Meadows.
   "Got through our match today. Ran like a bee stung me! Oh wait, one did," tweeted King, who indeed was stung on her left hip during the win.
   King, a member of the Sacramento Capitals living in Boynton Beach, Fla., and Shvedova, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, were undefeated in Grand Slam tournaments when they lost to Hlavackova and Hradecka 6-3, 6-3 in the French Open semifinals in June. The Czechs went on to win their first Grand Slam title.
   King and Shvedova are scheduled to meet fifth-seeded Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova today at about 4 p.m. PDT on the Grandstand court. The Russian pair, playing in their first major together, surprised top seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
   Meanwhile, No. 28 seed John Isner of Tampa, Fla., reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) over No. 12 seed Gilles Simon of France.
   Isner, who's listed at 6-foot-9, uncharacteristically lost his serve five times yet won in four sets.
   "That's pretty encouraging," Isner, who won a $15,000 tournament in the Sacramento suburb of Shingle Springs in 2007, told reporters.
   Isner will face Great Britain's Andy Murray, the fourth seed and 2008 U.S. Open runner-up who dispatched unseeded Donald Young of Atlanta 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
   Young, who won the 2008 Sacramento Challenger, did not appear ready to play after rain wiped out all of Tuesday's matches and all but 15 minutes of play Wednesday.
   "I haven’t had to do that, especially at this level of a tournament, this deep in a tournament," said Young, 22. "To get up every day, getting ready to play and not playing, it’s kind of emotionally draining."
   Tournament officials announced that the women's and men's singles finals will be pushed back one day to Sunday and Monday, respectively. Both matches are scheduled for 1 p.m. PDT.
   In junior girls singles Thursday, qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a Stanford sophomore from Santa Monica, outlasted 15-year-old wild card Taylor Townsend of Stockbridge, Ga., 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
   In junior boys singles, 16-year-old Connor Farren of Hillsborough lost to 10th-seeded George Morgan of Great Britain 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8) in the second round.