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It's been four years since Serena Williams qualified for the final of a US Open and a lot of things happened at that time. During those years, she won five other Grand Slam titles, got married and, most importantly, became a mother.
The only thing that seemed to escape him on the tennis court was another Open title. She already has six, but another will break a tie with Chris Evert for the most part by a woman, and will also win with Margaret Court with 24 major titles.
Williams resumed an open final dominating Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3, 6-0, under the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams, seeded No. 17, will face the winner of the other semi-final between No. 14 Madison Keys and No. 20 Naomi Osaka of Japan, later competing in the same stadium.
For Williams, 36, she will play her ninth open final with a 6-2 record.
A year ago at that time, she had just given birth to her daughter and had complications following her caesarian delivery.
Williams has long been a role model for women, African Americans and other minorities, and she has now taken over the mothers who have been working since returning to the WTA Tour in March.
Her final match before leaving on maternity leave was the final of the Australian Open in 2017, won for her 23rd Grand Slam title, the largest number in the Open era.
His results since his return have been uneven, with some quick exits in some tournaments. But it has more and more found its place, especially at the Grand Slam tournaments.
She reached the Wimbledon final in July and was a dominant performance at the Open, where she competed in the final by losing only one inning. Williams warned that she was back in top form.
This is good news for her legion of fans and supporters, many of whom filled Thursday's Ashe Stadium with great support for her.
While Williams was going to the baseline to serve for the first time, the public supported her with a big roar. She fixed her hair, bounced four times on the ball, served and then hit a forehand for a long time. The crowd, who barely showed the interest of Sevastova, a Latvian 28-year-old, was killed.
Indeed, Sevastova beat Williams in this match and for a few minutes there was discomfort, especially with Williams striking unusually several forehands. But little by little, she began to find her timing, and Sevastova, 19th, who relies on craftsmanship and cunning, seemed to feel the pressure of the moment.
"I said, all, agree, these guys really want to be there and see me play," she said in an interview on the court, "so I have to give him the best I can. "
The fall of Sevastova's signature, which she successfully used to defeat defending champion Sloane Stephens in the quarter-finals, escaped her. She appeared to be overwhelmed in her first semifinal singles Grand Slam.
In the third match of the second run, Sevastova was found with a bullet with Williams at the net. She had plenty of room to pass Williams with a cross back, but she tried a lob and the ball was long.
The rest of the way was inevitable. In the end, who came just 66 minutes after her first serve, Williams has won 12 of the last 13 games and has won 24 of the 28 points in the net, which she does not normally do.
"In general, I only come to shake hands," she said.
Williams improved his outstanding semifinal singles Grand Slam record with 31-5. The last two defeats she suffered in the semifinal were at the Open. In 2015, she was stunned by Roberta Vinci, who thwarted Williams' hopes of winning the four major titles of the same year. She then lost to Karolina Pliskova in semifinal 2016.
But Williams is finally back in the final of the US Open and, as she told fans after her victory, she's just getting started.
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