TENNIS US OPEN – Venus Williams won her 2nd round match against Timea Bacsinszky securing her place in the 3rd round at the US Open for the first time in four years. It is almost mind boggling to think that Williams has been 3-3 at the Open since 2010 when she made the semifinal here. From New York, Cordell Hackshaw
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Venus Williams (19) won her 2nd round match against Timea Bacsinszky securing her place in the 3rd round at the US Open for the first time in four years. It is almost mind boggling to think that Williams has been 3-3 at the Open since 2010 when she made the semifinal here. This incidentally was her last semifinal appearance at any major. In 2011, she had to default from her 2nd round match with the revelation that she was suffering from Sjogren Syndrome. The subsequent years saw her losing tough 3-set matches to Angelique Kerber and Jie Zheng.
“[T]he last couple of years I fought really hard and I really played red-hot opponents. So it wasn’t like I didn’t try,” Williams surmised. However, this year, the American has re-energized her game particularly this summer and making a push to recapture her past success at majors. She had a tough opening round match against Kimiko Date-Krumm but in her 2nd round match, Williams was far more efficient as she dismissed Bacsinszky 6-1 6-4 in an hour and 25 minutes.
In the opening set, Williams had to save several early break points in her first two service games. She quickly realized that Bacsinszky was really making a concerted effort to gain the early advantage. Williams then seized control of the set by securing breaks in the 4th and 6th games. She confidently served it out 6-1 in 31 minutes. In the 2nd set, Bacsinszky found her footing in the match. With the 1st set over and the initial anxiety of playing a night match on Ashe stadium passed, the Swiss began holding serve more confidently. Williams, however, did not let up on her play. She continued to play quality points but the breaks of serves were coming her way. On her fifth break point of the set, Williams finally converted in the 9th game to serve for the match. Williams has to save a break point as she served out the match 6-1 6-4.
“[N]ow I’m happy. I won a match again. Finally I did something I couldn’t do the last couple … I feel like I’m playing well … like I can rely on myself to compete really well,” Williams said after the match. Williams will next play Sara Errani (13) who took out Anastasia Rodionova in straight sets, for a place in the Round of 16. “She does everything well on the court … Every time I’ve played her, I’ve had to be focused on very single point because she does not let up on any point no matter what the score is … [M]y main thing: to stay focused and play my game.”
Williams would definitely need to be focus against Errani because her service games remain problematic. In her 2nd round match, she was only getting in 54% of her 1st serve but won 74% of those points. However, when the pressure is on, Williams’ service percentages go down dramatically as it did against Kimiko Date-Krumm in the 1st round. She had 1 ace for the match and 3 double faults with 20 winners and 19 errors. Errani will likely exploit this weakness as well as use her considerable foot speed to keep Williams at bay. The Italian is looking for her first win against the American but she too has a severe serve that Williams will surely attack without mercy.
