[ad_1]
NEW YORK – Serena Williams was a bit shaky at the start of her semifinal of the US Open.
For six minutes.
It's the time it took him to file the first two parts. Williams spent the next hour playing without problems, especially at the net, winning 12 of 13 games to beat Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova (19th) 6-3, 6-0 and reaching her ninth-place finish at Flushing Meadows and the 36th of Grand Slam. tournaments.
"I've worked hard on my stolen I've won some doubles championships, so I know how to play volleyball," Williams said with a laugh, before adding this sentence: "I'm coming just to shake hands. "
With one more win, Williams will win his seventh US Open championship and his 24th singles trophy, equaling the most points in Margaret Court's tennis history. Williams already owns the brand for most of the half-century professional era; Court won some of his own against the amateur competition.
Williams had lost in the semi-finals on her two previous trips to New York – against Roberta Vinci in 2015, when she had been running for a Grand Slam calendar year, and against Karolina Pliskova in 2016 .
A year ago, Williams missed the US Open because she gave birth to her daughter, Olympia, during the tournament. She then discussed complications related to blood clots.
The American resumed the tour in February and at the Grand Slam at the Open de France in May, when she had to retire from the field with injured thoracic muscle. At her second major comeback, Wimbledon, she was second.
Now, there is a chance to take a title and become, just a few weeks younger than 37, the oldest woman to win a Slam in singles.
"Honestly, it's really amazing." One year ago, I was literally fighting for my life at the hospital after having the baby, "Williams said, his voice wavering. "So, every day I go out on this field, I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to practice this sport, you know, so no matter what happens in a match – semi-finals – I feel like already won. "
Saturday, Williams will face 2017 Madison Keys, seeded No. 14, or Naomi Osaka of Japan, ranked 20th, were to play in the second semifinal.
Neither Keys, who is 23, nor Osaka, 20, has won the Grand Slam title.
Sevastova participated in a major semi-final for the first time at 28 years old. Although she started the night quite well at the Arthur Ashe stadium, making two clear games for a quick 2-0 lead, everything changed quickly.
The roof was closed hours earlier due to a forecast of rain and strong winds, and shouts and applause echoed wherever spectators shouted for Williams in pre-match presentations. opening game, and after almost every point, she won.
And there were plenty of them.
Total winners? Williams led 31-10 in this category. And Sevastova's penchant for penalty kicks did not pay off: she lost three points in the first set with mistakes that landed on the wrong side of the net.
"She had a little luck, I think, during a few breaks in the first set, and then she started to feel better, and when she's in the lead, it's hard to play," Sevastova said. tour in 2015. "She stayed focused in the second set."
The key to Williams, really, was something of a new ride: to advance as much as possible.
Sevastova is changing a lot of speed and angle, which has helped to eliminate the defending champion Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals. In order to avoid too long exchanges from the bottom line, Williams and his coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, thought it was more logical to put pressure on Sevastova.
It worked. And how.
Williams won 24 of 28 points when she went to the net. Add to that its usual powerful base game and always excellent service, which reached 120 km / h (194 km / h), and it really was not a fight at all.
"To go so far, so fast," Williams told the fans afterwards, "I'm just getting started, you guys."
Source link
