Serena into quarterfinals, opens up on engagement
Venus, Vandeweghe win, will meet in an all-American semi.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — For three rounds and more than a week, Serena Williams wanted to keep all the focus on her primary objective in Australia.
She hasn’t worn an engagement ring at the Australian Ope n , a n d h a s n’ t r e a l l y wanted to elaborate much on the marriage proposal from Alexis Ohanian — which she made public late last month by posting a poem on news website Reddit.
The six-time Australian Open champion is in Melbourne aiming for an Openera record 23rd Grand Slam title. Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, has been at her matches.
After her toughest match a t t h e t o u r n a me n t t h i s ye a r, a 7-5, 6- 4 win over No. 16 seed Barbora Strycova on Monday, she was relaxed enough to reflect on her engagement. She’d just reached the Australian Open quarterfinals for the 11th time, and said she had nothing to lose after struggling with her misfiring serve — she was broken four times, including her first two service games — and making 46 unforced errors.
Williams, 35, was asked, again, about her engagement in a postmatch news conference — this time by an Italian journalist who wanted to clarify the reference to Rome in her poem.
“What did I say? I said I was whisked away to Rome?” she said, explaining how Ohanian took her back to where they first met to propose.
Were they introduced, or was it happenstance?
“Literally by chance. It was just — I was sitting down, and he sat next to me,” Williams said. “Yeah, that doesn’t happen anymore, right?
“I live in a movie and in a fairytale in my mind, so I guess eventually it was bound to happen.” 3. Milos Raonic, 9. Rafael Nadal, 11. David Goffin, 15. Grigor Dimitrov 6. Gael Monfils, 8. Dominic Thiem, 13. Roberto Bautista Agut 2. Serena Williams, 5. Karolina Pliskova, 9. Johanna Konta, 13. Venus Williams, Coco Vandeweghe 7. Garbine Muguruza, 16. Barbora Strycova, 22. Daria Gavrilova, 24. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 30. Ekaterina Makarova
Still, she’s not planning the wedding just yet. As she said to all previous questions about the engagement, she’s here to win another title. With top-seeded Angelique Kerber already out, she also has the chance to regain the No. 1 ranking.
Next up, she’ll face 2016 semifinalist Johanna Konta, who beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-4 to make it fourthround victories over the Russian in back-to-back years.
Two Americans are already in the semifinals.
Serena’s sister Venus Williams reached the semis of a Grand Slam for the 21st time and will play CoCo Vandeweghe for a spot in the final.
The 36-year-old Williams beat No. 24-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 7-6 (3) today, becoming the oldest player to reach the Australian Open women’s semifinals in the Open era.
Her 50th c areer win at Melbourne Park earned her a spot in the last four for the first time in 14 years.
Vandeweghe advanced to play her first major semifinal, using a powerful forehand to dictate play against French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in a 6-4, 6-0 win.
She has beaten Grand Slam champions in back-to-back matches at Melbourne Park after her upset over Kerber.
Vandeweghe saved the only break point she faced in the first set with an ace, and conceded only 10 points in the 28-minute second set. She had 31 winners, including 14 on her powerful forehand side.
“Once I got rolling in the second, it was like a freight train, you couldn’t stop it,” she said.
Williams has advanced without dropping a set, and isn’t ready to stop there.
“It’s wonderful to start the year out with this appearance,” said Williams. “I want to go further. I’m not happy just with this.”
Defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored twice, doubling his season goal total, as Washington extended its point streak to 14 games (12-0-2). The Capitals have won three in a row and have scored 44 goals in their past eight games. Washington scored on six of its 25 shots on Cam Ward and handed Carolina its fourth consecutive loss. Braden Holtby made 25 saves for his 23rd win.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 36 shots, and Brandon Pirri, Matt Puempel and Mats Zuccarello scored as New York won its third straight. Lundqvist has given up four goals on 84 shots during the winning streak after allowing 20 on 113 shots the previous four games, including three straight losses. Jordan Nolan and Kyle Clifford scored for Los Angeles, the latter with one second left. Rangers forward Kevin Hayes missed the game and will be out two to three weeks with a lower-body injury, the team said.
Nazem Kadri scored two goals, giving him 20 this season and 101 in his career, and Frederik Andersen made 26 saves for Toronto.
Richard Rakell scored his 20th goal and Jonathan Bernier, starting for injured John Gibson, made 31 saves for Anaheim. Tobias Rieder scored 48 seconds into overtime to lift Arizona over Florida. Vincent Trocheck had his 18th goal for the Panthers. Patrick Marleau scored four goals in the third for San Jose, breaking open a 1-1 game.