CROWD OF ONE
Serena says she can provide all the fire she needs at empty U.S. Open
This one required a little resiliency from Serena Williams. And frankly, that characteristic is more important for Williams today, a few weeks shy of 39 years old, if she’s going to catch Margaret Court with her 24th Grand Slam title. Williams can no longer plow through the field, and that was again evident on Labor Day when she needed almost 2½ hours to defeat 15th-seeded Maria Sakkari, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.
Williams can still beat anybody, and she can now lose to a lot more competitors. That’s her new reality.
“It was really an intense match,” Williams said.
It was a little bit of revenge for Williams, who had lost to Sakkari just two weeks prior at Flushing in the Western Southern Open. Williams complained of cramps in that first matchup, and Sakkari, the 25-yearold from Athens, was victorious in three sets.
On Monday, Williams was down a break in the third set, and the grunts grew louder as she mustered the necessary power shots. The result felt in the balance until the final point, a backhand winner from Williams that prompted her familiar celebratory scream. She’ll now face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarterfinals. She is unseeded, so Williams is favored to advance to her 11th Open semifinal since 2008. The only two semis Williams has missed in the last 13 years were during tournaments she skipped.
Sakkari has never advanced into the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam but was, at times, going toe-to-toe with Williams from the baseline. The first set, a 37-minute breeze, left the impression that Williams would cruise into the next round.
But Sakkari recovered, and Williams, trailing frequently in that second set, never quit. She turned away four of Sakkari’s set points before succumbing in the tiebreaker. The final set was a bit of a rollercoaster until Williams seized control with her second break for a 5-3 lead. In the end, Williams won the match despite hitting fewer winners than Sakkari (30 to 35). It was the second straight match Williams went to three sets, following her victory Saturday over Sloane Stephens.
She was animated and vocal even without fans at Ashe Stadium.
“I feel like I’m pretty vocal with or without a crowd,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m super different without a crowd, but it’s — you know, I just, like I said, I’m super passionate. This is my job. This is what I wake up to do. This is what I train to do 365 days of the year.
“Obviously I miss the crowd, because usually I’m training and I’m playing for the crowd. But now we have a virtual crowd. You know, there is a lot of people that’s supporting. Whether it’s me or my opponent, they are still here to watch a really good match. Yeah, I’m always going to bring that fire and that passion and that Serena to the court.”
Williams has lost four consecutive Grand Slam Finals matches, including two at the U.S. Open. She hasn’t won here since 2014. She’s on course to face No. 2 Sofia Kenin in the semifinals, and then perhaps a finals rematch against No. 4 Naomi Osaka.