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Saturday, September 1, 2018

US 5.5 - Serena Sweeps Away the Doubt

And on Night 5... well, the Williams Sisters didn't particularly pull off something unique. At least not when it comes to *their* tennis lives and careers.

They met for the 30th time as professionals. The 16th time in a major, though only the second time in the opening *week* of one, the first since their maiden match in Melbourne twenty years ago.



So, yeah, we've pretty much been here before. And after the consummate performance put on by Serena on Friday night, we have our first evidence that we might be saying the same thing on the final weekend of this U.S. Open, too.

Surely, the days of the Venus & Serena on-court story are numbered. But it's not as if anyone is counting them down just yet, even as they play deep into their late thirties, defeating players who were barely born (or not yet) when they first made *their* tour debuts. We've now witnessed two full decades of a tennis family's story told and retold more times than can be counted, even while new chapters are *still* being written. This latest plot point may ultimately be seen as a minor one, or maybe as a stepping stone along way toward the *next* watershed moment in the career of the winner.

*That* Williams, without a doubt, turned out to be Serena, who performed brilliantly, but also with an air of subdued routine that one might see from someone performing the nightly duty of sweeping the floor at the end of the business day before heading home for the night. So cleanly and concisely were her duties carried out that even Serena herself had to acknowledge it after the match, saying that she believed it to by far be her best performance since she returned to the tour earlier this season. A season, remember, which saw her reach the Wimbledon final less than two months ago.

The biggest drama in the match may have occurred in the second game, when Serena turned her ankle in the backcourt while up 15/40 on Venus' serve. Venus saved both break points and held for 1-1. Serena had a trainer re-wrap her already heavily-wrapped ankle in the changeover following the next game.



Once she returned to action, Serena seemed to move fine. And, really, that was the only moment left open to question in this one.

While Venus struggled to hold serve, missing far too many first serves to remain competitive, Serena rarely made a mistake. While the older Williams had her moment, such as a pretty running forehand winner down the line in game #5, they were few and far between in comparison to her younger sister. Already down 4-1, Venus held multiple GP's in game #6, but on her second BP faced in the game a Serena shot popped off the net cord and brought Venus in to the outer edge of the AD court to retrieve it. Serena easily passed her at the net to break for a 5-1 lead. She then held at love, firing an ace on set point.



After dropping serve to open the 2nd, Venus found her *only* opening in the match. An error from Serena gave her her first BP of the night. She had a chance to convert it, but missed on a forehand passing shot behind Serena, who then went on to hold for 2-0. Venus won her second game of the match in game #3, but again had to save BP before seeing it go her way on the scoreboard. Down 5-1, she struggled to win just one more, finally putting away a long game in which she *didn't* face a BP (just a handful of deuce points), holding with an ace. While serving out the match, Serena at times made it appear as if she was the only player on the court. She fired an ace to reach MP, then double-faulted. Then she fired another ace for MP #2 while Venus watched. A wide serve and forehand winner combo ended things after 1:12, giving Serena a 6-1/6-2 win that ties the head-to-head Sister series mark for the fewest games surrendered (3 - Serena d. Venus, Charleston '13).



In the end, Serena had 34 total winners (vs. 14 for Venus) and ten aces. She won 88% of her first serve points, and only faced one BP in the match. The win sends her into the U.S. Open Round of 16 for a seventeenth straight time. She's done so in her last thirteen slam appearances, and a total of fifty-eight times in majors during her career.

With the floor spotless beneath her feet, one could almost imagine the tiny voice inside her head saying, "All right, Serena. It's time to turn out the lights."


(And said the field: "Yeah, that's what we're afraid of.")



=NIGHT 5 NOTES=
...in the other 3rd Round matches that went into the night, Ash Barty ended Czech qualifier Karolina Muchova's run with a 6-3/6-4 win.




Yowza! That was purrrty.

And in the late match on Armstrong, Sonya Kenin tried as she might to add Karolina Pliskova to her list of nighttime victims after she took out Maria Sakkari in the 1st Round. She led the Czech 4-2 in the 1st *and* 2nd sets, but Pliskova's serve (FINALLY on -- she had 8 aces in the 2nd set alone) pulled her back and she won 6-4/7-6(2).

Conchita Martinez is the Spanish Bracelet.


ACTIONS SPEAKING LOUDER THAN WORDS ON NIGHT 5: During the Venus/Serena match on ESPN, in-the-corner "Tournament Update" graphics throughout displayed in-match score updates for Wawrinka/Raonic, Isner/Lajovic and Coric/Medvedev... but never once included Barty/Muchova, the *other* MD singles match taking place at the same time. Hmmm.

LIKE ON NIGHT 5: Remember, though, Angie knows how to turn out the lights, too.



LIKE ON NIGHT 5: The Alize Effect







*MOST MATCH-UPS IN OPEN ERA*
80 - Evert/Navratilova
46 - Evert/Wade
43 - Navratilova/Shriver
40 - Goolagong/Wade
40 - Graf/Sabatini
39 - Evert/Goolagong
36 - Mandlikova/Navratilova
36 - Graf/Sanchez Vicario
34 - Navratilova/Turnbull
33 - Court/Casals
33 - Austin/Navratilova
33 - Graf/Novotna
31 - King/Wade
30 - WILLIAMS/WILLIAMS
[slams]
22 - Evert/Navratilova
16 - WILLIAMS/WILLIAMS
13 - Graf/Sanchez Vicario
13 - Evert/Mandlikova

*VENUS vs. SERENA*
1998 Aust.Open 2nd (HO) = Venus 7-6(4),6-1
1998 Rome QF (RC) = Venus 6-4,6-2
1999 Miami F (HO) = Venus 6-1,4-6,6-4
1999 Grand Slam Cup F (Carp) = Serena 6-1,3-6,6-3
2000 Wimbledon SF (G) = Venus 6-2,7-6(3)
2001 Indian Wells SF (HO) = Serena (walkover)
2001 U.S. Open F (HO) = Venus 6-2,6-4
2002 Miami SF (HO) = Serena 6-2,6-2
2002 Roland Garros F (RC) = Serena 7-5,6-3
2002 Wimbledon F (G) = Serena 7-6(4),6-3
2002 U.S. Open F (HO) = Serena 6-3,6-4
2003 Australian Open F (HO) = Serena 7-6(4),3-6,6-4
2003 Wimbledon F (G) = Serena 4-6,6-4,6-2
2005 Miami QF (HO) = Venus 6-1/7-6(8)
2005 U.S. Open 4th (HO) = Venus 7-6(5)/6-2
2008 Bangalore SF (HO) = Serena 6-3/3-6/7-6(4)
2008 Wimbledon F (G) = Venus 7-5/6-4
2008 U.S. Open QF (HO) = Serena 7-6(6),7-6(7)
2008 WTA Chmp rr (HO) = Venus 5-7,6-1,6-0
2009 Dubai SF (HO) = Venus 6-1,2-6,7-6(3)
2009 Miami SF (HO) = Serena 6-4,3-6,6-4
2009 Wimbledon F (G) = Serena 7-6(3),6-2
2009 WTA Chsp rr (HO) = Serena 5-7,6-4,7-6(4)
2009 WTA Chsp F (HO) = Serena 6-2,7-6(4)
2013 Charleston SF (GC) = Serena 6-1/6-2
2014 Montreal SF (HO) = Venus 6-7(2)/6-2/6-3
2015 Wimbledon 4th (G) = Serena 6-4/6-3
2015 U.S. Open QF (HO) = Serena 6-2/1-6/6-3
2017 Aust.Open F (HO) = Serena 6-4/6-4
2018 Indian Wells 3rd (HO) = Venus 6-3/6-4 (first after Serena baby)
2018 U.S. Open 3rd (HO) = Serena 6-1/6-2
==
OVERALL: Serena 18-12
GRAND SLAMS: Serena 11-5
-AO: Serena 2-1
-RG: Serena 1-0
-WI: Serena 4-2
-US: Serena 4-2
HARD: Serena 11-9
GRASS: Serena 4-2
CLAY: Serena 2-1
CARPET: Serena 1-0
==
WINNER OF 1st SET is 26-4
MATCH POINT OVERCOME TO WIN: 2
-Serena/Bangalore '08
-Serena/WTA Chsp. '09
3-SET MATCHES: 11 (Serena 7-4)
TIE-BREAKS: Serena 8-6
TOTAL SETS: Serena 41-32
TOTAL GAMES: Serena 349, Venus 344
==
BY NATION...
12 USA: Serena 7-5
6 England: Serena 4-2
3 Australia: Serena 2-1
3 Qatar: Serena 2-1
1 Canada: Venus 1-0
1 France: Serena 1-0
1 Germany: Serena 1-0
1 India: Serena 1-0
1 Italy: Venus 1-0
1 UAE: Venus 1-0





All for Night 5. More tomorrow.
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