V. Azarenka b. [3] S. Williams 1-6 6-3 6-3
Serena William’s quest for her 24th Major title has been stopped once again. The American champion could not close up a match that saw her take the first set 6-1 in spectacular fashion and have early chances for a break in the second. After that, Azarenka managed to turn the match around firing 25 winners against only 17 unforced errors, but most importantly showing clutch qualities in the important points of the third set, winning five of the six games that got to 30-30.
A disastrous start by Azarenka coupled with a laser-focused Williams resulted in a very quick rush to a 4-0 lead by the American, who used her world-famous service magnificently and pummeling Vika’s second serves to obtain two early breaks. Serena had experienced some quite problematic starts during the early rounds of the tournament, but for this semifinal she was able to sprint of the blocks moving on the baseline like she was in her best days and firing winners from all positions.
Slowly trying to work her way into the match, Azarenka had a chance to get back one of the two breaks to get to 2-4, but she squandered the chance with a backhand unforced error and ended up losing her serve for the third time in the set for a 6-1 Williams in 34 minutes.
Serena tried to take a lead even in the second set, but her early chance for a break in the second game was erased by a good body serve by Azarenka. The player from Belarus continued her strategy to always open the court in the rallies to make her opponent move from side to side, even if that meant opening up angles for her potential winners. More importantly, Azarenka’s first serve percentage rose into the high 70s and allowed her to keep Williams’ returns at bay. Her first advantage came when she broke for 3-2 closing with two groundstroke winners.
That was the start of a 7 games to 1 streak by Azarenka, who closed the second set 6-3 in 35 minutes and obtained a crucial break at the beginning of the third set, when Serena Williams was broken at 0-1 after she was leading 40-0 in the game and was forced to call a medical timeout to have her left ankle re-bandaged.
Williams was unable to recover that break, as precision in her returns started fading away and her movements got heavier and heavier. “I started really strong. Then she just kept fighting – said the 23-time Major champion – She just changed and started playing better and better. Maybe I took a little too much off the gas pedal at some point. I just think I made more errors. I made a lot more errors. I made some really key mistakes on some returns in the second set that I probably should have done better. I didn’t win a lot on my second serves, apparently. I served well, but I didn’t dominate the way I needed to in that.”
Azarenka’s fifth ace of the match was the final point that sent the former no.1 in the world back to a major final seven years after her last one at the 2013 US Open.
“I knew I had to step up with my game. It was very quick – said Azarenka in press conference – In the beginning, it was a lot of very short rallies. She served really, really well. I felt like I was kind of out of range. I wasn’t finding my serve. Second serve was getting killed. I knew I had to get into the rallies, I needed to step up with my aggressivity, play a little smarter, play with a little bit more width of the court and bring the intensity up. I felt that intensity was important today, to bring it up.”
Saturday’s showdown that will assign the women’s singles title will then oppose Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka, who were due to face each other in the final of the Western&Southern Open two weeks ago in Flushing Meadows, but Osaka pulled out of the match with a hamstring injury. The two players have met each other three times, with Osaka winning the last two on clay and Azarenka taking their first match at the 2016 Australian Open.
