The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Murray is confident
Jamie Murray is confident his partnership with Neal Skupski will reap the rewards despite missing out on a second US Open final.
Murray and Briton Skupski went down 7-6
7-6 to Wimbledon champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
“We played some good tennis, five good matches, so it bodes well for us,” said Murray.
However, Murray’s tournament is still not over as he bids for a hat-trick of US Open mixed doubles titles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
They will face top seeds Chan Haoching, of Chinese Tapei, and New Zealander Michael Venus today.
“That’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that was even an option,” she added.
Earlier, Svitolina had boyfriend Gael Monfils firing down serves at her on the practice court beforehand to prepare for the power of Williams, and had a clear game plan to move the American around the court.
Elina Svitolina struggled against Serena Williams (Adam Hunger/AP)
But Williams crashed 34 winners past the Ukrainian fifth seed, who beat Britain’s Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals.
Svitolina forced three break points in the opening game, before Williams held.
She then faced six deuces on her own serve as the six-time champion made the breakthrough.
It was a high-level start from both players. The spectators waiting for the first changeover to take their seats were still stood in the concourse after 20 minutes.
Svitolina should have been 2-0 up, but before she knew it she was 3-0 down, and the first set was wrapped up in 41 minutes.
A second Williams break arrived at 1-1, the veteran outlasting 24-year-old Svitolina in a 14-shot rally. She repeated the dose in the fifth, even surprising herself with a stunning get at the net to bring up three more break points.
She needed just the one, and then ran away with the match, a backhand winner putting Svitolina out of her misery after just 70 minutes.