NEW YORK (AP) – In her first U.S. Open appearance since her debut 22 years ago, Serena Williams changed course and took over Sloane Stephens.
Williams emerged from the third-round bout between two American champion defenders at Flushing Meadows (he won six of his 23 singles Grand Slam titles upright) with a 2-6, 6-2, 6 victory.-2 on Stephens’ 2017 song list on Saturday.
Williams’ 3-year-old daughter Olympia then wore a mask and greeted Mom as she sat on her father’s lap in the front row.In the locker room, Williams greeted him.
“I hope,” Williams said, “he saw her fight.”
Williams did, as he does, with his most productive service in the game, achieving 12 aces of up to 122 mph and an ability to recalibrate his shots to the ground that they were so bad at first and so good in length.
Williams has amassed 10 of the last 12 games by raising his level, of course, but helped Stephens move from betting almost perfectly to missing more and more.After mistakes, Stephens looked at his coach, Kamau Murray, or hit his right thigh with his palm so hard that it resoned as an almost empty Arthur Ashe stadium.
“In that first set, I don’t think I’ve made any mistakes, honestly.He played so cleanly. I said, ‘I don’t need to lose in two sets,’ said Williams, whose only loss in his career at the U.S. Open before.the fourth circular came in third place as opposed to Irina Spirlea in 1998 at the age of 16.
Williams, who will turn 39 in 3 weeks, said he said Saturday: “Okay, Serena, play a game.Get a game.”
Of course, there was no fan, banned because of the coronavirus pandemic, so it all looked more like the feeling of a workout than a high-risk competition on a Grand Slam stage.
There were players to watch, in addition to the fifteenth seed Maria Sakkari, who took a sip of orange juice and had lunch on the balcony of his player suite.Sakkari had a direct interest: he faces Williams for a place in the quarter-finals.
It’s a rematch of his assembly won last month through Sakkari in the Western
“You know, Serena is Serena,” Sakkari said after advancing the previous Saturday by beating American Amanda Anisimova, 19, 6-3, 6-1.”You have to locate the tennis. Otherwise, there is no possibility of opposing it.”
Stephens did that even first thing on Saturday.
He played patient tennis, waiting for the right moment, creating long and confusing problems that ended with Williams blinking first.
After an exchange of 15 in the first set that culminated in a backhand that flew wide, Williams looked at the strings on his racket and hit them with his left palm.
Stephens took the lead early, taking a 2-1 lead when Williams spent 30 consecutive players with consecutive backstrokes that failed the mark.
Quickly, this set belonged to Stephens, who fell in love when the four tracks ended Williams’ mistakes.In total, Williams made thirteen direct mistakes on set.Stephens? Only five.
The end of this set was greeted with widespread silence, not even the soundtrack awkwardly broadcast other matches to simulate ambient noise.
From 2 to everything in the second, Williams nevertheless made forays, amassed a break point, then broke for the first time when Stephens missed a forehand, as part of a stretch in which Williams took 12 out of 15 points.
She’s on her way.
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