Two years ago, Serena Williams gave birth to her first child, and suffered some life-threatening complications thereafter. Just 10 months later, in her fourth tournament, she impressively reached the Wimbledon final, but was outplayed by Angelique Kerber. Two months after that, she was back in another Major final, but lost to Naomi Osaka here a year ago in one of the most controversial matches of all-time. After battling injuries for the first half of 2019, she returned to the Wimbledon final, but was thumped in that championship match by Simona Halep. Now she’s into her fourth Slam final in the past 14 months, and is playing her best tennis since becoming a mother.
A year ago, Bianca Andreescu was ranked outside the top 200, and was eliminated in the first round of US Open qualifying. But in 2019, she’s been on an absolute tear. She started the year by getting through qualifying to reach the final in Auckland, and subsequently qualified for the Australian Open. Andreescu then won a minor league title in Newport Beach, and reached the semis in Acapulco. However, it was in Indian Wells where she truly made herself known, blitzing through the draw to win that Premier Mandatory event. Due to injury, she wouldn’t complete another event until her home country’s biggest tournament, the Rogers Cup. In Toronto, Bianca would again battle her way to another Premier Mandatory title. Now she’s into her first Major final, will debut inside the top 10 on Monday, and is in position to qualify for the WTA Finals.
Serena Williams (8) vs. Bianca Andreescu (15)
As ESPN’s Chris McKendry reported, this is the largest age gap for a women’s final in the Open Era. With Bianca at 19 years of age, and Serena a few weeks away from 38, Williams is nearly twice as old as Andreescu. They technically played last month in the Rogers Cup final, though Serena retired after just four games due to back spasms. They shared a nice moment there, as the teenager would comfort the all-time great, who was extremely upset that her body had let her down. Serena has been in excellent form this fortnight, just demolishing most of her opponents. As per the WTA, she’s been broken only three times in six matches. In her last three matches, she’s hit twice as many winners as errors. And her movement appears to be as good as it’s been since her return. However, Andreescu’s all-court talents paired with her fighting spirit have proved to be an unbeatable combination of late. She’s 44-4 on the year at all levels, and hasn’t lost a completed match in over six months. As Rennae Stubbs highlighted, she’s yet to lose to a top 10 player in her short career. Bianca is yet to blink on a big stage, though playing the greatest player ever for your first Major title will be a new test for the teenager.
Will Serena blink again for the fourth time at the finish line of a Major? It’s hard to imagine so, though most of us didn’t see her first three losses coming either. Will Serena be motivated by what happened in last year’s US Open final, or haunted by it? It’s hard to know, as she’s refused to discuss the Osaka match from 2018. Will Andreescu finally remember how to lose a match? If anyone is going to remind her, it’s Serena. This is a most compelling women’s championship match with huge stakes, and I can’t wait to watch how it all plays out. I expect an intense, prolonged battle between these two warriors. In the end, I give the slight edge to Serena. As much as Bianca has refused to lose, Serena just has a look about her this tournament. And no one has stronger skills, or a stronger will, than Serena.
Other notable matches on Day 13:
In the mixed doubles final, it’s the top seeds versus the defending champions: Hao-Ching Chan and Michael Venus (1) vs. Bethanie Mattek Sands and Jamie Murray.
