New York: A rampaging Serena Williams moved to the brink of a record- equalling 24th career Grand Slam title Thursday as she stormed past Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-1 to book her spot in the US Open tennis tournament final.
Since returning to action after the birth of her first child Serena Williams has come agonisingly close to matching Margaret Court’s mark three times and will have a chance Saturday to do so in front of an adoring home crowd for a second successive year.
Last year Serena Williams was left in tears following a chaotic and controversial loss to Naomi Osaka on Arthur Ashe Stadium. She has also lost two Wimbledon finals since her return. The 37-year-old will meet Canadian Bianca Andreescu who beat Swiss Belinda Bencic 7-6(7-3), 7-5.
The semifinal offered a classic matchup of styles with Serena Williams and her prodigious power up against Elina Svitolina, one of the best counter- punchers in the women’s game.
Serena did not have her ‘A’ game in warm conditions but the former World No.1 knew exactly what was needed particularly on the big points. The fifth seeded Ukrainian had no dearth of chances but could not convert any of six break opportunities.
A ruthless Serena, however, bombarded Svitolina with punishing forehands and six aces to register her 101st US Open win, which tied her with Chris Evert for the most at Flushing Meadows.
Serena has arrived at the year’s final Grand Slam with a scowl and an all business demeanour that has left a path of devastation. Any concerns over the back spasms that forced her to quit the Toronto final and out of Cincinnati were eased when Serena Williams opened her Flushing Meadows account with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of old rival Maria Sharapova.
That was followed by routine wins over Karolina Muchova, Petra Martic and Cat McNally before blasting her way into the last four with a jaw-dropping 44-minute 6-1, 6-0 rout of China’s Wang Qiang.
But as cold-blooded as those performances were, Serena’s 70-minute dismantling of Svitolina in front of an approving packed house said more by delivering an emphatic message she will not be leaving Flushing Meadows without a share of Court’s record.
The match had looked to be a long and competitive affair when Svitolina forced Serena to fight off threebreak points to hold her opening serve.
Serena, however, was ready for the challenge breaking Svitolina at the first opportunity by firing a winner down the line the Ukrainian could only look at.
That was the only break of a grinding first set but all Serena would need for a 1-0 lead.
Svitolina would hold serve to open the second set, but then Serena swept through the next six games to advance to her 33rd Grand Slam final.
Reuters