The writer’s adage holds that writing a short story is more difficult than writing a long story. Not so in the case of Serena Williams and the 2019 US Open. For the second time in three days, Williams dusted off a world class tennis player. This time, her victim was #5 seed and number five player in the world, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
Williams sent Svitolina from the tournament with a 6-3 6-1 victory. Williams will vye for her 24th major title on Saturday at the National Tennis Center.
Dominating the Late Rounds
Prior to exiting Svitolina in the semi-finals, Williams defeated world #18 Qiang Wang in the quarterfinals 6-1 6-0. A mix of power, grace and speed were too much for both opponents.
A long trail of adjectives is not needed. In these two late round matches, Williams utterly dominated. Williams won her quarter-final match in a brisk 44 minutes. The semi-final win over Svitolina lasted 70 minutes.
Together, Williams moved through two late round Grand Slam matches in less than 2 hours. Amazing. By contrast, Rafael Nadal’s straight set quarter-final win over Diego Schwartzman lasted 2 hours 47 minutes.
While the statistics can sometimes drown the story, two standouts are that Williams never lost her serve in the two matches and lost a combined 59 points in the four sets, that is less than 15 points a set.
What’s Next
Well chronicled is Williams quest for the record of Grand Slam championships. Margaret Court holds the record with 24 Slam wins. Williams will bring her 23-9 record in Grand Slam finals into the match on Saturday night.
The accomplishments are amazing, the numbers overwhelming. However, the story is short. Serena Williams is the most dominating tennis player of the modern era. It is as simple as that.
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