FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. – There was magic within the Queens air so many occasions when Serena Williams has stepped on the court docket at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Wednesday evening, in what may have been her final singles match ever, was no completely different. In what is anticipated to be the ultimate match of her legendary, sport-changing profession, Williams took down No. 2 seed Anna Kontaveit on the US Open in entrance of a report evening session crowd of 29,959 — and it positive felt like all 29,959 have been rooting for Serena.
To her credit score, Kontaveit by no means, ever backed down from the magnitude of this specific scenario — one she she mentioned she’d by no means skilled earlier than.
“It was [Serena’s] second. I used to be very conscious of that,” she mentioned after the match.
Kontaveit by no means performed like an underdog, regardless of being one in each manner however on paper. After your complete stadium helped will Williams to a 7-4 tiebreaker to win the primary set 7-6, the Estonian got here proper again out prefer it by no means occurred and rapidly received the primary three video games en path to successful the second set, 6-2.
However within the third set, that Queens magic reared its head once more for Williams, for what appeared just like the millionth time in her profession. She pulled off a miracle. The 40-year-old star, who’s 14 years older than Kontaveit, got here out and rapidly received the primary recreation. Then, critically, she broke Kontaveit’s serve.
At that time, the killer intuition that Williams has at all times possessed, the one which introduced her to the head of American sports activities, confirmed up and carried her to a 6-2 third set win.
“It is a bizarre combination of embracing but in addition staying centered,” Williams mentioned of rising to the event within the second-round match.
The query now turns into, after knocking out the second ranked girls’s tennis participant on the planet: can Serena really exit on high and win this match? Can she maintain rising to the event?
There is a lot of historic precedent that goes into answering that.
If she does win, will probably be Williams’ twenty fourth Grand Slam, greater than any participant within the Open Period and tied total for the profession mark with Margaret Courtroom. It should even be her report seventh US Open title, yet one more than Chris Evert.
As for the proof of Williams occurring a run like this, the precedent is there on the US Open … on this manner.
She is now 51-11 towards seeded gamers and 18-6 when going through a better seed in New York. She’s additionally 24-9 towards high 10 seeds. And with regards to the US Open, vs. high 5 seeds, she is 16-4. All the way in which again in 1999 — one other reminder of Williams’ beautiful longevity — Serena, because the No. 7 seed, eradicated No. 4 Monica Seles, No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and No. 1 Martina Hingis to win this very match.
This isn’t 1999. A whopping 23 years later, although, Williams has a shot to go on an analogous run. It’s proper there in entrance of her. Large names like Naomi Osaka and Emma Randucanu — stars who’ve confirmed themselves in Grand Slams — usually are not standing in Serena’s manner for the time being. Her subsequent match is on Friday towards unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic. Ought to she beat Tomljanovic, Williams would not play a seeded participant within the 4th spherical both, with (23) Barbora Krejcikova and (14) Laylah Ferndandez, the runner up eventually yr’s Australian Open, already out the way in which in her part of the draw.
That is all turning into harking back to what a fellow American tennis star, Jimmy Connors, did in 1991 within the twilight of his profession. He was 39 and made the semis on the US Open, taking down seeds earlier than really fizzling out vs. No. 4 Jim Courier. However boy, did he give Flushing Meadows one thing to root for on the way in which.
Connors, famously, mentioned “Is not this what they pay for? That is what they need” relating to the fan help on the US Open that yr.
After all, Williams needs to duplicate that run Connors had, however go the additional mile and win all of it within the place the place she’s already carried out that six occasions. She’s already given the followers at Arthur Ashe a lot to root for, courting all the way in which again to 1999 when she first received. She’ll look to maintain the magic occurring Friday.
