SERENA WILLIAMS TO PLAY VENUS WILLIAMS. GUARANTEED A WILLIAMS SISTER IN THE SEMIS OF THE 2015 U.S. OPEN TENNIS

Written by: Staff on 6th September 2015

SERENA WILLIAMS TO PLAY VENUS WILLIAMS. GUARANTEED A WILLIAMS SISTER IN THE SEMIS OF THE 2015 U.S. OPEN TENNIS |

Williams squared – Turning back the clock and looking at legacy by Ros Satar

The crowds on the impressive Ashe Stadium had a bit of a treat. No… a lot of a treat, with the existing men’s champion continuing his defence, before Williams major and minor took to the court… ah ah ah, but not together!

First up, I don’t think it is unfair to say we witnessed a little of the Venus of old. Let’s see what we can tick off our check lists.

· Serve takes a little time to warm up – check.

· Warms up and she rips through her service games with nary a glance – check.

· Perhaps gets a teensy bit wobbly coming into serving for the first set – check.

Come the second set though, it was a lot more one-sided as Venus put paid to the qualifier’s hopes by ripping through the first five games as though she had dinner reservations, before the Estonian managed to at least get a game on the board. There was just the merest wobblette (in a nod to the French Open) when Venus faced a break point while serving for the match, before having the match done and dusted in 52 minutes, 6-2 6-1.

Serena took to the court to face Madison Keys, and heavens we hoped that this could match a couple of the corking matches we have had already on the women’s side: Serena v Bethanie Mattek-Sands set the bar, with Victoria Azarenka’s win over Angelique Kerber being the second. Would the third time be the charm?

There was no sluggish start this time from the World No. 1, and we just hoped that Keys would allow herself to enjoy the match and not implode – she would need to be at her best to deal with the moment, and yes even be a threat to Serena. Please understand – it’s not that we don’t want to see history being made, but this is just too good an opportunity to pass up showing the best of women’s tennis!

All that practice that Serena did after her shakier performances paid off – that serving arm looked effortless, but Keys came to play. Returns came whistling back with interest – Anything you can do, and all that! But nerves were bubbling under for Keys whose double fault handed Serena a break. Still even the great can make a bit of a mess of things as set point turned to 30/30 as an edgy miss kept everyone on their toes, before she closed out the first set.

The second set looked as though it could have more competitive, but this was a different animal out there, and as soon as she got an opportunity to break, she grabbed it.

The difference with Serena was that she knew she had to get off to a solid start – there would be absolutely no chance if she rested on her laurels, and all too quickly the chances for Keys as Serena sets up a quarter-final with Venus, 6-3 6-3.

Day 8 Preview

It’s the start of the second week, and now we should be permanently parked in front of a screen. If we had our way we would be waited on hand and foot with never ending coffee and nutritional snacks, but you know… one step at a time.

Victoria Azarenka v Varvara Lepchenko

Azarenka and Kerber surely was one of the best of the women’s matches so far – highlighted by a fantastic moment between them at the net. That had everything, so it will be interesting to see how home-favourite Lepchenko steps up against Azarenka, who has been building in form.

After not having won a main draw match since the first round in Madrid, the US hard court summer has been a little kinder to her, with a semi-final run for Lepchenko in Stanford, and a couple of rounds under her belt in Cincinnati.

It has been a long time since Lepchenko has had a win against the Belarusian (back in 2005) and since then they have had a couple of tough battles, so given her better run of form in New York, we can expect this could be a three setter.

Azarenka in 3

Petra Kvitova v Jo Konta

Forgive me – British, you know, but this is still an intriguing match-up none-the-less. I have spent most of the first week typing “on paper this is [/insert higher ranked player] here, and each time Konta has confounded the odds.

She is coming into Ashe for the first time and in the first of the night matches – but earlier this year Konta played on Wimbledon’s Centre Court for the first time this year. Ok we know they don’t compare in size, but *ahem* size isn’t everything, is it? Of course it isn’t. It is more the sense of occasion that comes with playing on a premier stage.

OK on paper – this is Kvitova’s all the way. A powerful leftie, twice a slam champion, and despite a rocky year, including still struggling with how she prepares for matches while dealing with mono, she has looked pretty darned supreme.

But those of us who follow her know that when she is not in peak form, we see the re-emergence of ‘P3tra’. If Konta keeps her self-belief and as clichéd as it sounds just plays each point and moreover worries about her own game, and not the other side of the net, the she certainly has the ability to take a set off the 5th seed.

But in a weird way, this latest tribulation for the charming Czech could actually be helping her – the conditions will be less humid which will make things a lot easier for the asthma sufferer. If she is seeing the ball like she has been, this could be over awfully quickly, with time for the crowds to grab some grub from the food court, before Roger Federer closes the night session.

Kvitova in 2.

Simona Halep v Sabine Lisicki

Now this is one worth settling in for. In the scrappy fighter’s corner – Halep leads Lisicki 3-1. But in the booming serve corner, Lisicki’s only win was on a hard court. Right now Halep is playing very much like a legit World No. 2. She is quick and efficient, and she expects herself to be there by the end of the week, and she will fight for everything after having weathered a bit of a mediocre spell in Europe.

Perhaps the US hard courts really are her thing – she already won Indian Wells, and has had a pretty good build up to the US Open with back to back finals, so she is sharp and up for it. Lisicki had to battle to get past a picky Strycova, and Halep on form will probably be a bit too much for her.

Halep in 2.

Samantha Stosur v Flavia Pennetta

Out of the glare of all the hubbub surrounding pretty much everyone else, we have a couple of battle hardened tour favourites, with decent US Open records to their names fronting up, and on the head to head alone this is worth a peek.

The 2011 champion has quietly gone about her business, and will need to step things up having never won a match against the Italian. Pennetta’s run to the semi-final two years ago was a step further for her than her three previous efforts getting to the quarter-final – which is where she wound up last year.

Both can play in New York, that’s for sure and maybe the edge coming into the tournament lies with Stosur with slightly better results during the US Open Series – but will it be enough to get her first win?

Stosur in 3.

Tidbits

· With her win over qualifier two-time champion Venus Williams was the first to book her place in the US Open quarter-finals, swiftly followed by little sister Serena, which gives us a mouth-watering quarter-final

· Keys can be proud of her 2015 Slam record, making the semi-final at the Australian open and the quarter-final at Wimbledon, before making her best run so far at the US Open in the fourth round.

U.S.OPEN Sad News Department:

· Sadly, but sensibly Genie Bouchard withdraw from her match against Roberta Vinci, after slipping from an ice bath and sustaining head injuries that caused her to pull out of the women’s and mixed doubles, and now her fourth round match up.A shame as she was beginning to turn results around after a quite frankly woeful season. But as we said yesterday, head injuries are not to be messed with.

Ros Satar is a regular contributor to 10sballs.com and runs Britwatch Sports (@britwatchsports), because we Brits like watching sport. Occasionally we’re good at it.

Topics: 2015 U.S. Open, Flushing Meadows, New York, Ros Satar, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Venus Williams, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

September 6, 2015 at 4:27 pm

-@serenawilliams TO PLAY @Venuseswilliams. GUARANTEED A WILLIAMS SISTER IN THE SEMIS OF THE 2015 #USOpen #TENNIS- http://t.co/Whl81ZqK8Z