Halep wins in a rout to deny Williams again in quest for a 24th major crown
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND >> It was late in the first set of Serena Williams’ latest Grand Slam letdown when a British fan seated high in Centre Court, perhaps worried about getting full value for the price of his ticket, yelled, “Serena, wake up!”
Williams heard the shout. “I definitely wasn’t asleep,” she said. But there was no changing the oneway flow of the Wimbledon women’s singles final against Simona Halep, who was playing as if in a dream.
Halep went on to a 6-2, 6-2 victory Saturday, managing the moment brilliantly to become the first Romanian to win a singles title at Wimbledon, the oldest of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
“I’m very sure that was the best match of my life,” said Halep, a former No. 1 and last year’s French Open champion.
Williams finished with 26 unforced errors. Halep, astonishingly, finished with just three, and not because she was routinely shying away from risk.
“I always have been intimidated a little bit when I faced Serena,” said Halep, who had won only one of her previous 10 matches against Williams. “She’s an inspiration for everyone and the model for everyone. Today I decided before the match that I’m going to focus on myself and on the final of a Grand Slam, not on her. That’s why I was able to play my best, to be relaxed and to be able to be positive and confident against her.”
That is certainly an easier mental challenge to conquer at this stage. Several years ago, Saturday’s result would have sent a major tremor through tennis.
Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion and one of the most dominant figures that this mind game of a sport has seen with her blend of power, court coverage and mental toughness.
But the dynamic has changed now, perhaps for good.
Williams is undoubtedly the best player of this era and one of the greatest of all time, but at age 37, she is no longer a reliable closer: something that Halep said gave her confidence as she prepared to face her.
Saturday’s defeat was Williams’ third straight in a major final. All of them have come in straight sets in the past year as she has tried and failed to tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 major singles titles.
She has played infrequently this season, largely because of left knee pain, and been unable to win a title of any kind since she returned to the circuit in March 2018 — six months after giving birth to her daughter, Olympia, by cesarean section and experiencing post-delivery complications that she has said were life-threatening.
“I feel like I’m still incredibly competitive or else I wouldn’t really be out here, per se,” Williams said. “For the most part, I feel like I’m on the right track. I’m just going in the right direction in terms of getting back to where I need to be.”
There are, of course, different ways to look at Williams’ series of convincing Grand Slam defeats. It is no doubt remarkable that she continues to reach major finals considering how infrequently she competes in regular tour events; no doubt impressive that she can still impose her game and will at this late stage of her career.
At 37, with her next birthday in September, she was the oldest women’s singles finalist at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era.
Halep was the portrait of focus and positive energy Saturday — just as Angelique Kerber, another gifted counterpuncher and defender, was in last year’s Wimbledon final, when she dominated Williams, 6-3, 6-3, making just five unforced errors of her own.
But that score line, like this score line, was also a reflection of Williams’ shaky performance. After firing 19 aces in her reassuring semifinal rout of Barbora Strycova on Thursday, Williams hit only two aces against Halep, both in the second set after the final already was tilting heavily in Halep’s favor.
Instead of truly testing Halep’s nerves — not typically the strength of her game — Williams allowed her to build a serious head of steam and belief. Halep won the first four games in just 12 minutes.
Yes, Halep served uncommonly well and reached shots and serves that other women whom Williams played at the All England Club were unable to reach. But Williams also surrendered point after key point with quick errors: some on the run or stretch, but plenty more from positions of genuine strength.
She went for too much and, more rarely, too little. But she was again too tightly wound with Court’s record in reach, after hitting some legitimately high notes on her way to the final.
Halep, 27, now has two major singles titles after losing her first three Grand Slam finals.
In the final stages of the match, Williams seemed more resigned than ferocious.
Halep converted four of five break points against Williams’ normally fearsome serve. She also did what she and her coaching team knew she needed to do: put a high percentage of first serves into play (76%) to keep Williams from attacking Halep’s vulnerable second serve too often.
“I definitely knew that she was just playing her heart out,” Williams said. “I felt like, ‘OK, what do I need to do to get to that level?’”