The Cairns Post

Serena finds an inner calm as title beckons

- LEO SCHLINK

IN Paris, it was a guttural roar.

At Wimbledon, it was a thunderous “C’mon”.

But both messages were the same — Serena Williams was trailing in a grand slam match, but had no intention of losing.

Against Ash Barty at the French Open and Camila Giorgi at the All England Club, Williams illustrate­d why she is so accomplish­ed ... and tough.

“It’s weird. Sometimes I feel ‘Man, I’m in trouble’,” she said after winning 3-6 6-3 6-4.

“Sometimes I feel, I can fight — for whatever reason, today I was so calm.

“Even when I was down the first set, I thought ‘Well, she’s playing great. I’m doing a lot of the right things. It is what it is’.”

Tested, Williams does what she mostly always does — she found another gear.

Even with the publicity around the birth of her daughter Alexis last year, it can be overlooked that this is only the fourth tournament Williams has played in 18 months.

She is back in the semis, on the cusp of grand slam history.

If she wins two more matches, she will lift an eighth Wimbledon trophy and equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 slams.

She would also become the first mother to win here since Evonne Goolagong in 1980. Even Williams is surprised. “I think everything right now is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.

“To be here, to be in the semi-finals ... I mean, I always say I plan on it, I would like to be there, have these goals.

“But when it actually happens, it still is, like, ‘Wow, this is really happening’.”

Williams has built a career of boisterous­ly staring down challenges and challenger­s.

Against Giorgi — apart from her explosion after winning the second set — she was much calmer.

The warrior in Williams knows it won’t last, not with history on the line.

“That (calmness) was just today ... I mean, I’m hoping this is like a new thing,” she said. “Honestly, I highly doubt it. “It was just the way I felt today, I never felt it was out of my hands.”

Williams will play Julia Goerges for the right to face either Angelique Kerber or Jelena Ostapenko in Saturday’s final.

 ??  ?? COOL IN CRISIS: Serena Williams, of the US, celebrates winning her Ladies' Singles Quarter-Finals match against Camila Giorgi, of Italy.
COOL IN CRISIS: Serena Williams, of the US, celebrates winning her Ladies' Singles Quarter-Finals match against Camila Giorgi, of Italy.

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