Serena Williams said tennis had "come a really long way" as she moved to within a victory of a 10th US Open final, 20 years after winning her first Grand Slam title in New York.
Williams, who turns 38 later this month, charged into the last four at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday with a 6-1 6-0 thrashing of China's Wang Qiang that took just 44 minutes.
The American is hunting a 24th Grand Slam singles title to equal Margaret Court's all-time record and will face Ukrainian fifth seed Elina Svitolina in Thursday's semi-finals.
Williams collected her 100th US Open win against Wang, leaving her one shy of the mark belonging to Chris Evert -- a record she could eclipse by lifting a seventh title here.
"I think the sport has come a really long way. It's been really satisfying to see sport for women, the premier sport for women," said Williams, who beat Martina Hingis in the 1999 final in New York.
"It's the best work in the world that a woman can do in my mind. I'm a little biased obviously.
"I feel like we fought so hard for so many years for so many different things. I feel like we still obviously have a ways to go, but a lot of that fighting through decades has come through."