Williams wobbles but still surges on
ALL the publicity campaigns in the world could not help Serena Williams last night as she flirted with an abrupt exit from the US Open.
What was to rescue her in a deciding set against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi was her incomparable serve, which guided her safely through to an undulating 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 victory.
So much has been riding on Williams doing well at this tournament, not least the multi-million dollar advertising splurges built around the women’s game’s most bankable star, who is very much the face of this Open.
More prosaically, however, it was managing to deliver eight aces in the nervy third set, and winning 16 out of 17 points on first serve, that ensured her survival.
‘It wasn’t easy at all, she has had a lot of big wins, I was just happy to get through,’ said Williams, who now meets another big server in Karolina Pliskova. ‘The thing I have improved most is my fitness, coming back from having a baby has been harder than I thought.’
After dismissing her sister in the previous round for the loss of only three games, Venus described it as the best her sibling had played against her in 30 matches. She looked primed to fulfil the narrative of winning a Grand Slam as a working mother.
One would not have expected Kanepi, the 33-year- old world No 44 to prove insurmountable. She knocked out top seed Simona Halep in the first round but her best results this summer have generally come on clay.
The danger of any upset seemed negligible after a first set in which the Estonian could barely get a foothold in the contest. Not only was she delivered a doughnut, she won only six points in all with the whole thing taking only 18 minutes.
However, Williams’ relative lack of matches means her concentration can waver, and whereas she made only two unforced errors in the opener she produced six in the first three games of the second.
Kanepi hits a heavy ball and began serving with more confidence, moving ahead to 5-2. She held off the American’s comeback to take into a decider.
After breaking serve at the first time of asking in the third, Williams let out a sustained, primal scream, urging herself onwards.
As she has remarked, parenthood has not made her more philosophical about winning and losing. From then on her serve, probably the greatest shot tennis has ever seen, helped her defend her lead. Williams could meet Maria Sharapova in the final, with the Russian maintaining her remarkable record in night matches at Flushing Meadows. The 31-yearold has never been beaten under lights at the US Open and moved into the last 16 by virtue of maintaining a 22-0 sequence in these conditions.
Her latest victim was former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and Sharapova now finds herself in the half of the draw that has been so badly ravaged that the highest ranked survivor is No 14 seed Madison Keys. Sharapova now has the bonus of facing Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, better known as a clay court expert.
Not only that but the Russian will be playing at night for the fourth round in a row, inviting the allegation that officials are being favourable towards her.
A lot has to happen if a rematch against Williams — which was due to happen at the French Open before injury intervened — is to happen, but Sharapova is the only Grand Slam winner left in the bottom half.