It seems like a shock every time it happens nowadays, but Serena Williams does occasionally lose tennis matches. She even sometimes loses them at Grand Slams. She sometimes almost loses Grand Slam matches.
Serena rarely almost loses them like this, though.
Serena Survives Putinseva Scare
We knew coming into this match that Putinseva, or “Poots” as she is affectionately called, has the game and style to trouble Serena. She has unexpected power that she can pull out when she needs it, but it’s really her finesse game plan that could potentially give the World #1 trouble. Still, Serena has faced tactical finesse players before and usually is not troubled.
Putinseva came out with a clear game plan, keeping the ball on Serena’s backhand wing with enough spin and bounce to keep the American uncomfortable. It worked, and Serena seemed uncomfortable with both her opponent and the wet conditions early. Putinseva earned an early break lead, but Serena took it back a few games later.
Play continued pretty evenly through the first set. Neither player succumbed to nerves but neither was particularly enthusiastic about her play. Serena opened up a 40-0 lead while serving at 5-5. Putinseva earned the next two points and gave a big fist pump as her first show of emotion, which she followed with a return winner. Putinseva became clearly emotive after that and followed through by taking the break, holding to win the set, and then breaking Serena immediately to start the second set.
The American is the World #1 for a reason, though, and wouldn’t go down without a fight. She immediately broke back and held, then opened up a 0-40 lead in Putinseva’s next service game. The Kazakh saved two break points but couldn’t save the third, giving Serena a 3-1 lead.
Just when it looked like Serena was going to make this into another all-too-common “lose the first set then dominate the match” comeback, Putinseva found her form again. She broke back to make it 4-3* and held (from 0-40 down, no less) to even the match. After a difficult and massive hold in the following game, it looked like Serena might finally come back to try and control this match. After Putinseva double-faulted away the second set, we had to wonder what Putinseva would look like mentally in the third.
It certainly did not look good to start, as Putinseva got broken early in the deciding set. Serena raced to a 5-0 lead, and while Putinseva salvaged a little dignity by holding to take one game, it was far from enough to win the match as she lost the deciding set 6-1.
Serena did not appear to be at her physical best in this match and these conditions, but if you want to beat Serena, you have to play how Putinseva played. She didn’t hit many winners, but she did put Serena in a ton of awkward situations and she didn’t give away free points. She hit only two unforced errors in the first set (compared to five winners), while Serena hit 24 errors to only 13 winners. Putinseva had similar stats in the second set, hitting only three unforced errors until late in the set. Her winner count was low also, though she did raise both in the last few games of the set as she got a little nervous and more aggressive. Serena actually earned a positive winner-to-error ratio in the second set, but it wasn’t enough compared to Putinseva’s more aggressive play.
Unfortunately for Putinseva, beating Serena Williams requires three perfect sets of play, not just two. The Kazakh finally hit more errors than winners in the final set.
What is truly shocking about the match is the way Putinseva controlled so many of the rallies. She wasn’t playing defensive tennis, but her rally strokes were all meant to keep Serena uncomfortable. The longer the rallies went, the more likely it was that Serena would lose them. That is just not something we ever see from Serena. Putinseva brought in a game plan and executed it to absolute perfection. Serena is a great champion for a reason, though. She adjusted her game and played very strong defensive tennis along with some lethal drop shots and good net play.
If other WTA players and their coaches watched this match, and they surely did, they will take close note of the game plan that Putinseva brought and how that might be the future way to beat Serena.
This is, by far, still the biggest result of the 21-year-old Kazakh’s career. This was her first Slam quarterfinal, with her previous best being a third-round appearance at this year’s Australian Open. She will also break into the Top 35 for the first time in her career, with her previous best ranking being World #53. Serena will face Kiki Bertens on Friday for a spot in the final.
Enjoy what you read? Check out all of LWOS’ complete coverage of the 2016 French Open.
