And she did it again. Against the no. 2-ranked player in the world. Serena William is definitely “taking her time to evolve away from tennis”, as Mary Joe Fernandez pointed out during the on-court interview after her 2 hours, 27 minutes win against Anett Kontaveit in front of a delirious crowd on Arthur Ashe stadium.
The mood was quite different from what it was Monday night when everyone was ready for the goodbye party. This time it was all business. Serena came on court without the six-layer evening gown that Nike designed for her to wear in this farewell tournament, to symbolize the six US Open titles won during her career. “I took away two layers because it’s too heavy” had confessed Williams after her first-round win against Kovinic. And the match itself developed in a much different way, with the two players being much more aggressive and going for the winner as soon as possible.
It was Serena that had the edge during the first set, ruled by serves like a men’s match. Williams has three break points at 3-3 in a 20-point game, but Kontaveit was impeccable on all of them. The American champion drew first blood to go serve for the set at 5-4, but the Estonian left the 23,000-strong crowd speechless when she equalized at 5-5, helped by a final double fault by Serena.
The ensuing tie-break was as tight as it could be: an ill-advised backhand drop shot by Kontaveit was the mini-break that Williams needed to take the set with her fifth ace after a 64-minute battle.
Kontaveit reacted in the best possible way in the second set, sprinting to 3-0 with a double break, and after Williams won her first game of the set on her opponent’s serve, she restored the distance to lead 4-1 obtaining the third consecutive break, and this time after Williams was leading 40-0. The n. 2 seed seemed to have decided to play more to the open court forcing Williams to move sideways and making it more difficult for her to hit her winners.
The third set started with Serena displaying her best tennis of the match, but Kontaveit returned to her old habits of hitting hard down the middle, playing in the hands of her opponent. Williams went quickly up 2-0, lost another game from 40-0, but Kontaveit really was no match for the level produced by Serena, and at 4-1 the crowd already started to celebrate another victory for their favorite player.
Williams improved her record to 108-14 at the US Open and with this win she moves to an almost unreal 23-2 against the Top 2 ranked players in the world since 2007, with both defeats occurring against Azarenka in 2013.
Now the draw opens up nicely for her: the next opponent in the third round will be Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, with a possible Round of 16 match against Samsonova or Krunic. “There is no rush”, said Williams after the match talking about her ‘evolution’ away from tennis. “I have no pressure in this tournament, nothing to prove, no expectations. And this is the first time it happens to me since 1998. I’ve had an X on my back ever since.” And it’s only a matter of time until someone will start mentioning the number 24.
