Boom. And, suddenly, the Future is now.
This Australian Open has been Serena Williams' slam to lose for, well, a few months now. Coming into her quarterfinal match against 19-year old, #29-seeded American Sloane Stephens on Wednesday, the 31-year old, 15-time slam champion was riding a 20-match winning streak dating back to last season, and had lost just one match since her shocking 1st Round loss last May at Roland Garros. Even after rolling her ankle early last week, and seemingly tweaking the injury yesterday in her and Venus' doubles loss, she was still the odds-on favorite, by far, to take the title, since she was sporting a 27-4 vs. the three already-minted AO semifinalists -- Azarenka, Sharapova and Li -- and has a 20-1 record since 2005 against the world's #1 and #2.
While the leading lady of this first all-American slam quarterfinal since 2008 was definitely Serena, Stephens was surely the "understudy" studiously preparing for superstardom. Armed with great defensive skills, plus a powerful serve and groundstrokes to round out her game, Stephens has long seemed destined for the Top 10 , and maybe far more. Even before her first slam QF appearance at this AO, the future seemed bright for the personality-loaded Stephens, even as she's struggled the last couple of seasons when trying to put higher-ranked opponents away, resulting in quite a few come-from-ahead losses that, had they gone the other way, would have been looked upon as career milestones. But those stumbles have been easy to view as the typical "growing pains" of a young player, and something that she'd eventually overcome. Her wins in Melbourne, where she's weathered a few storms -- as the favorite over both Laura Robson and Bojana Jovanovski -- seemed to show that Current Sloane was getting close to morphing into Future Sloane and having the virtual world at her beck and call. But whether her future could begin on this day, in by far the biggest match of her career, against Serena, with just one previous Top 15 win to her credit, was another thing altogether.In the 1st set's opening games, Stephens easily held serve, not dropping a point in her first three service games. But once Serena got an opening, she broke her younger countrywoman for 5-3, then served out a rather routine set at 6-3. She went up 2-0 in the 2nd set, too. But, Stephens, who's spent time with her idol during Fed Cup activities, didn't back down out of fear of Serena's overwhelming aura. Instead, down 2-1, she got a break of Williams serve to even things up, then nosed ahead with a successful passing shot in a hold for 3-2.
Then, soon after, with Serena down 4-3, it happened.
When Williams raced to net to get to a drop shot, she had to make a sudden stop in order to avoid crashing into the net. She moved oddly as she did, then stumbled a bit backward in obvious discomfort. As everyone focused on her previously-injured ankle, Williams was unable to reach up to serve effectively and was broken for 5-3. In the final game before the changeover, Serena showed the tell-tale signs of an injured player, as she tried to smash shots for immediate winners early in the point to avoid having to chase down balls. And, Serena being Serena, it was a effective tactic. Between her winners and a few tight points from Stephens that ended with errors, Williams got the break back, then called for a trainer, who, surprising everyone, began to examine Serena's back.
Afterward, Williams revealed that she'd felt something in her back a few days ago, and then felt a back spasm again after her dash-and-stop at the net. Given medication during her injury timeout, Williams tried to close out the match during the lag-time before the effects of the meds set it. Until then, she simply tried to get her serve inside the box, then use her still-effective groundstrokes to win the points. It worked for one game, as she held at love thanks to a few Stephens errors. But after Stephens grabbed a 30/love lead on Williams' serve two games later, Serena couldn't stage a comeback to win the game and force a potential match-ending tiebreaker. Stephens got the break to take the set 7-5 and force a deciding 3rd.
A few games into the set, Williams' serve, while still never back to "normal," was no longer a put-it-in-play shot. With her ankle not hindering her movement, one would have thought that she'd find a way to put Stephens away. But she didn't. Instead, she became frustrated with her injury situation (later, she called her experiences at this slam maybe her worst ever, and said she was almost "relieved" that she could now put it behind her), smashing her racket and throwing it under her chair after failing to break Stephens, who held for 2-1. One game later, Stephens held a break point, but Serena held for 2-2.
In game #7, Williams got a break on her fourth BP of the game to take a 4-3 lead. But rather than capitulate to Serena, Stephens chose now to take her future -- and present -- into her own hands. She got the break back one game later, then pulled off a nervy, but not nervous, half-volley drop shot to get to 30/30 on her own serve. Stephens saved a break point with a huge forehand down the line winner, then held for 5-4. The match didn't seem like it was close to being over, but it actually was.
In game #10, again, Williams fell behind early on serve, then an error handed Stephens two match points. When a Serena backhand landed in the net, Stephens had won The Battle at Wounded Knee... err, I mean ankle, but, actually, back... by a 6-3/5-7/6-4 score. She flashed her soon-to-be-even-more-popular smile, along with the usual look of "shock" when a young player reaches her first career slam semifinal. But she didn't go crazy rolling around on the Laver Arena court in celebration. No, she has far more composure and determination than that. After getting a few of her usual one-liners off during her on-court interview, she then went to the press room and talked about how she woke up this morning and told herself, "You can with this match, dude." And she did, too.
This is the first time Serena has ever lost to an American younger than she is. And it was to Stephens, the new Top 20 player who has now become the first teen Bannerette to reach a slam semifinal since Serena last did it in 2001, and the first not named Williams since Alexandra Stevenson in 1999. But this will only be the first of many big moments in the career of Miss Sloane Stephens. Sit back and enjoy it... the future has only just begun.
=DAY 10 NOTES=
...with Serena now out of the picture, the other three semifinalists, three former slam champs whose six combined majors still amount to only 40% of those won by Serena all by herself, have to be breathing a huge, collective sigh of relief now. Suddenly, it's anyone title to win or lose.
Meanwhile, Stephens is playing with the proverbial "house money," with no real pressure or expectations to weigh her down. I mean, she just beat freaking Serena Williams! Why can't the sky REALLY be the limit... right NOW?
...of course, getting back to Serena, all that said, considering how she usually reacts to these sorts of things, anyone want to lay some odds right now on Williams, especially factoring in her recent affinity for life in France, winning her first Roland Garros since 2002 come the springtime?
...earlier in the day, Victoria Azarenka continued her under-reported skip (with just one stumbling step) through the women's draw, even though she's the #1-ranked player (a ranking she very well may hold onto after the AO, too, now that Serena is out) and defending champion. Against a Svetlana Kuznetsova who did what she often does -- that is, play about HALF a match -- the Belarusian continued to show that her near-miss victory over another young American, Jamie Hampton, earlier in this tournament seems to have focused her more on the task at hand.
The opening part of this match went back and forth, and on and on, with the first four games lasting a total of forty minutes. Kuznetsova won a four-deuce game to begin, then claimed a fifteen-minute game to break Azarenka's serve and take a 3-1 lead. The Russian held for 4-1, but then seemed to hit some sort of physical or, more likely, mental wall. With so many matches on her ledger the last couple of weeks after missing the last half of 2012, fatigue could have been a legitimate factor. But, well, you know, this is Sveta -- and she's sometimes looked tired even when she should be fresh. Whatever the case, Vika stormed back to get a break for 4-3, then got another late break before claiming the set at 7-5 on her third set point.
The pair traded breaks to begin the 2nd, and then Kuznetsova was pretty much a non-factor after that. She double-faulted on break point to fall behind 4-1, and that was all she wrote. Azarenka aced to hold for 5-1, then got one final break to win 7-5/6-1 to advance to her fifth career slam semi, and fourth in the last five slams.
...by the start of Day 11, the first final of this AO will be set. The women's doubles got its first finalists today when top-seeded Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci took out the all-Hordette team of Elena Vesnina & Ekaterina Makarova. They'll play for a third leg of a Career Doubles Slam (the Italians won in Paris and NYC in '12) against the winners of the night session semifinal match between the "Cinderella" unseeded team of Varvara Lepchenko & Zheng Saisai and the "Super Cinderella" Aussie duo of Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellacqua.
...the junior singles quarterfinals are now set. Some of the bigger results on Day 10 included #3 Ana Konjuh (CRO) doing her best Sharapova impersonation, defeating #15 Allie Kiick (USA) 6-0/6-1; and #10 Anett Kontaveit (EST) taking out #7 Anna Danilina (KAZ). Seven nations are represented in the Girls Final 8, with only the Czech Republic having two players advance.
Here's the breakdown of the Girls & Boys quarterfinalists, by nation:
*JUNIOR FINAL 8's - Girls/Boys*
2...Australia (none; Kokkinakis,Kyrgios)
2...Croatia (Konjuh; Coric)
2...Czech Republic (Krejcikova,Siniakova; none)
2...Italy (none; Baldi,Quinzi)
1...Belgium (Mertens; none)
1...Estonia (Kontaveit; none)
1...Germany (Lottner; none)
1...Latvia (Ostapenko; none)
1...Russia (Kulichkova; none)
1...Serbia (none; Milojevic)
1...Slovak Republic (none; Maruscak)
1...South Africa (none; Montgomery)
...DAY 10 "Reminder From Afar":
-- hmmm, The Rad sees Aga get ridden out of Melbourne on a rail... and then, within 24 hours, the tournament, in BOTH singles and doubles, gets turned on its head. Coincidence?
I'd sad It's work has been done. The Radwanska works in mysterious ways.
...DAY 10 "DISLIKES":
-- tell me, how is it that Tennis Channel can be broadcasting just a single tennis match -- one -- and yet still figure out how to miss two full games at the start of the 2nd set, as it did during its "live" airing of the Azarenka/Kuznetsova QF today?
-- and speaking of missing things, how is it that ESPN2 can talk about how great a personality and future that Stephens has, then make the decision to not show her first on-court, post-match interview (in this case, conducted by Rennae Stubbs for Aussie TV) after the greatest win of her young career, either live, or just a few minutes later? In previous big matches during this AO, that's precisely what has been done. Oh, it was finally shown -- reading between the lines of what Chris McKendry said as she introduced the footage, only AFTER being bombarded by complaints from viewers -- but it was somewhere around an hour and a half later, thereby losing its immediacy, and long after many of those "new fans" would likely have been watching.
...and, finally, leave it to Stephens to defeat Serena Williams, and then immediately dig into her racket bag to check her phone.
Future -- and Current -- Sloane, indeed.
*WOMEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. #29 Sloane Stephens/USA
#6 Li Na/CHN vs. #2 Maria Sharapova/RUS
*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #4 David Ferrer/ESP
#3 Andy Murray/GBR vs. #7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/FRA or #2 Roger Federer/SUI
*WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) def. #4 Makarova/Vesnina (RUS/RUS)
Barty/Dellacqua (AUS/AUS) vs. Lepchenko/Sai.Zheng (USA/CHN)
*MEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. Bolelli/Fognini (ITA/ITA)
#13 Granollers/M.Lopez (ESP/ESP) vs. Haase/Sijsling (NED/NED)
*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
Peschke/Matkowski (CZE/POL) def. Hsieh/Bopanna (TPE/IND)
#3 Mirza/B.Bryan (IND/USA) vs. Hradecka/Cermak (CZE/CZE)
Shvedova/Istomin (KAZ/UZB) def. Llagostera-Vives/Marrero (ESP/ESP)
#5 Petrova/Bhupathi (RUS/IND) vs. Gajdosova/Ebden (AUS/AUS)
*GIRLS SINGLES QF*
Elizaveta Kulichkova/RUS vs. #8 Elise Mertens/BEL
#3 Ana Konjuh/CRO vs. #12 Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
#10 Anett Kontaveit/EST vs. #4 Antonia Lottner/GER
Jelena Ostapenko/LAT vs. #2 Katerina Siniakova/CZE
*BOYS SINGLES QF*
#1 Nikola Milojevic/SRB vs. #8 Filippo Baldi/ITA
#3 Nick Kyrgios/AUS vs. #7 Wayne Montgomery/RSA
#11 Borna Coric/CRO vs. Matej Maruscak/SVK
Thanasi Kokkinakis/AUS vs. #2 Gianluigi Quinzi/ITA
*GIRLS DOUBLES SF*
#1 Konjuh/Zhao (CRO/CAN) vs. #5 Danilina/Kulichkova (KAZ/RUS)
Buayam/Z.Sun (THA/CHN) vs. #6 Korashvili/Krejcikova (UKR/CZE)
*BOYS DOUBLES SF*
H.Chung/D-Y.Kim (KOR/KOR) vs. Marterer/Mielder (GER/AUT)
Andrijic/Mousley (AUS/AUS) vs. Couacaud/Napolitano (FRA/ITA)
**AO "MIDDLE-ROUND TOP PLAYER" WINNERS**
2007 Serena Williams, USA*
2008 Maria Sharapova, RUS*
2009 Elena Dementieva, RUS
2010 Serena Williams, USA*
2011 Li Na, CHN
2012 Maria Sharapova, RUS
2013 Maria Sharapova, RUS
--
* - won title
*WON BOTH BACKSPIN's EARLY & MIDDLE-ROUND TOP PLAYER AWARDS*
2006 Wimbledon - Justine Henin-Hardenne (RU)
2007 Roland Garros - Justine Henin (W)
2008 Australian Open - Maria Sharapova (W)
2008 Roland Garros - Ana Ivanovic (W)
2009 U.S. Open - Serena Williams
2010 Wimbledon - Serena Williams (W) *
2010 U.S. Open - Caroline Wozniacki
2013 Australian Open - Maria Sharapova
--
* - co-Top Player in Early-Rds.
*CAREER SLAM SEMIFINALS*
[Victoria Azarenka]
Australian Open (2) - 2012 (W), 2013
Wimbledon (2) - 2011, 2012
U.S. Open (1) - 2012
[Sloane Stephens]
Australian Open (1) - 2013
*WTA SLAM SEMIFINALS*
[Career - Active Leaders]
22...Serena Williams (19-3)
19...Venus Williams (14-5)
16...MARIA SHARAPOVA (7-8)
6...Jelena Jankovic (1-5)
5...Svetlana Kuznetsova (4-1)
5...VICTORIA AZARENKA (2-2)
4...Ana Ivanovic (3-1)
4...LI NA (2-1)
4...Samantha Stosur (2-2)
4...Vera Zvonareva (2-2)
4...Petra Kvitova (1-3)
4...Caroline Wozniacki (1-3)
[2010-13]
6...MARIA SHARAPOVA (3-2)
5...Serena Williams (5-0)
5...VICTORIA AZARENKA (2-2)
4...LI NA (2-1)
4...Petra Kvitova (1-3)
**AO LOW-SEEDED/UNSEEDED SEMIFINALISTS, since 2000**
unseeded - Jennifer Capriati, 2000
unseeded - Serena Williams, 2007 (W)
unseeded - Zheng Jie, 2010
wild card - Justine Henin, 2010 (RU)
#32 - Fabiola Zuluaga, 2004
#29 - SLOANE STEPHENS, 2013
#22 - Patty Schnyder, 2004
#19 - Nathalie Dechy, 2005
#16 - Li Na, 2010
**AUSTRALIAN OPEN "Ms. OPPORTUNITY" WINNERS**
2004 Fabiola Zuluaga, COL
2005 Nathalie Dechy, FRA
2006 Martina Hingis, SUI
2007 Serena Williams, USA
2008 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2009 Vera Zvonareva, RUS
2010 Zheng Jie, CHN & Li Na, CHN
2011 Li Na, CHN
2012 Sara Errani, ITA
2013 Sloane Stephens, USA
**AUSTRALIAN OPEN "LADY OF THE EVENING" WINNERS**
2011 Andrea Petkovic, GER
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2013 Laura Robson, GBR
*RECENT BEST AMERICAN WOMEN'S SLAM RESULTS*
=2011=
AO: Venus Williams (3rd)
RG: Vania King & Bethanie Mattek-Sands (3rd)
WI: Serena Williams (4th)
US: Serena Williams (RU)
=2012=
AO: Serena Williams (4th)
RG: Sloane Stephens (4th) & Varvara Lepchenko (4th)
WI: Serena Williams (W)
US: Serena Williams (W)
=2013=
AO: Sloane Stephens (in SF)
TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Lesia Tsurenko/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #2 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #2 Maria Sharapova/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Cagla Buykakcay/TUR d. Tamarine Tanasugarn/THA 4-6/6-2/10-8
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - Laura Robson/GBR d. #8 Petra Kvitova/CZE 2-6/6-3/11-9
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): QF - #29 Sloane Stephens/USA d. #3 Serena Williams/USA 3-6/7-5/6-4
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP LAVER NIGHT MATCH: 2nd Rd. - Laura Robson/GBR d. #8 Petra Kvitova/CZE 2-6/6-3/11-9
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #2 Maria Sharapova/RUS (def. O.Puchkova/RUS)
FIRST SEED OUT: #32 Mona Barthel/GER (lost to K.Pervak/KAZ in 1st Rd.)
UPSET QUEENS: Russia
REVELATION LADIES: United States
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Australia (1-6 in 1st Rd.; 1-7 overall)
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Lesia Tsurenko/UKR & Valeria Savinykh/RUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Madison Keys/USA (3rd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: #9 Samantha Stosur (2nd Rd.)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: #29 Sloane Stephens/USA
IT (Fortysomething): Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN (at 42, oldest AO MD match winner)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
CRASH & BURN: #9 Samantha Stosur/AUS (lost to J.Zheng in 2nd Round; led 5-2 in 3rd and served for match at 5-2 and 5-4)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: #10 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN (down 3-0 in the 3rd set vs. Lisicki in 1st Rd.; had lost back-to-back 1st Rd. slam matches)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Laura Robson/GBR (def. Kvitova in 2nd Rd.; third win over former slam winner at last two slams)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
All for Day 10. More tomorrow.
