Williams ‘too old to play like this’ in surprise loss
Less than five months ago, Serena Williams needed just 44 minutes to bounce China’s Wang Qiang out of the U. S. Open, a 6-1, 6- 0 quarter-final thumping in which the tennis legend won 50 points to only 15 for her challenger.
On Friday in the third round of the Australian Open, the numbers were not on Williams’ side: In a match that lasted 2: 41, the eighth-seeded Williams made 56 unforced errors and saw her hopes of a record- tying 24th grand slam singles title end much earlier than anyone could have possibly anticipated in a 6-4, 6-7 (7-2), 7-5 loss to Wang, the No. 27 seed.
It was Williams’s earliest exit at the Australian Open — a tournament she’s won seven times — since 2006, and afterward, the 38-year-old said that at her age, she can’t afford to make so many mistakes.
“I’m way too old to play like this at this stage of my career,” Williams said, per The Associated Press. “Definitely going to be training tomorrow, that’s first and foremost — to make sure I don’t do this again.”
Wang dominated the first set, saving all four break points she faced, accumulating 10 winners and making just five unforced errors, and was serving to end it up 5- 4 in the second. But Williams broke Wang for the first time in six tries and then dominated the tiebreaker to force a third set.
“I was optimistic that I would be able to win,” Williams said. “I thought, ‘ OK, now finish this off.’ I honestly didn’t think I was going to lose that match.”
That she did indeed lose the match raises the question of whether Williams will ever be able to catch Margaret Court and her 24 all- time grand slam singles titles. Though she reached the final of the previous two slams, it’s now been three years since she last won one.
MELBOURNE • Canadian Milos Raonic served and volleyed with robotic precision to bundle Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the Australian Open with a 7- 5 6-4 7- 6(2) victory in the third round on Friday.
Raonic, who reached the last four at Melbourne Park in 2016 and the Wimbledon final the same year, hit 19 aces and 55 winners and did not give ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas a single breakpoint opportunity in the match.
Tsitsipas was broken once in each of the first and second sets before Raonic claimed the tiebreak comfortably and sealed their maiden meeting with a forehand cross-court winner.
“I knew it was going to be important that I play well, but I played consistently well throughout the match,” Raonic said. “I wasn’t having any fluctuations. I think that was how I was going to create my opportunities, and it worked out well.
“I know I’m not necessarily easy to play, especially if I serve well, if I do my things well, if I can find a way to move forward. There are not many guys necessarily that play the way I do, and I can find an efficiency in it.”
Tsitsipas, who last year defeated Roger Federer on his way to the last four, said it was “monotonic” and sometimes “boring” to take on a big-server like Raonic.
“He’s playing forehands from all over the court, and you don’t really know where you should stand exactly, because he’s just so fast and just turning around, hitting those forehands,” Tsitsipas said. “Serve is great, one of the best in the game.
“I felt a bit stupid returning his serves. I felt like I was slow. My anticipation was not there.”
Melbourne’s large Greek community was once again out in full force at the Margaret Court Arena to support Tsitsipas, but even their constant chants of “Stefanos Tsitsipas, olé, olé, olé” was not enough to lift the Athens-born player.
Play was held up briefly due to Greek fans singing just outside one of the entry doors and the umpire had to repeatedly urge security officials to close the door to allow Raonic to continue serving.
But Raonic maintained a Zen- like focus amid all the cacophony and went about his job like a machine.
On a day that witnessed 23- time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams and defending champion Naomi Osaka exit the women’s draw, the men’s side also lost Spanish ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who fell to Marin Cilic after a marathon 6-7(3) 6-4 6- 0 5-7 6-3 match.
Cilic, who won the 2014 U. S. Open and reached the final at Melbourne Park in 2018, also had a five- set win in his previous round against Frenchman Benoît Paire, but the Croatian has no doubt he will fully recover before facing Raonic next.
Roger Federer has never struggled for ways to win matches at the Australian Open, but in beating John Millman to chalk up his 100th on the Melbourne hard courts the 38- year- old Swiss found himself in uncharted territory on Friday.
For the first time Federer experienced the Australian Open’s unique system for ending prolonged contests, a so-called ‘super breaker’ — a first to 10- point tiebreak activated when the score reaches six games all in deciding sets.
Tiebreaks are traditionally played to seven and the new rule caused some confusion on its Melbourne debut last year. Had this thirdround match been played at the U. S. Open, Millman, rather than Federer, would have progressed.
The inspired Australian led 7- 4, then 8- 4, in the fifthset breaker only for Federer to dig his heels in and reel off the last six points to claim a 4- 6 7- 6( 2) 6- 4 4- 6 7- 6( 8) victory.
The U. S. Open, the first to adopt sudden- death finishes, uses tiebreaks at 6- 6 in the deciding set. There have been calls for uniformity and Federer says he likes the now defunct ‘into infinity’ system that produced the 70- 68 fifth set between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010, a match lasting more than 11 hours.