Serena Williams sets up US Open showdown vs Sloane Stephens
Serena Williams sets up US Open showdown vs. Sloane Stephens
NEW YORK (AP) — Yes, Serena Williams won in straight sets again. And yes, she moved into an all-American showdown at the U.S. Open against Sloane Stephens. Still, this victory did not quite go according to plan.
Her serve only so-so at times, her footwork a bit off, Williams got by and got through Thursday night against an opponent ranked just 117th, beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-2, 6-4 and letting out a cry of “Yes!” at the end that reverberated in a nearly empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It sounded more like relief than excitement.
“The only thing that gets me flustered is really me, like, because I always feel like I’m not winning every point. I mean, like, that doesn’t make sense,” said Williams, who has won six of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at Flushing Meadows and was the runner-up the past two years.
“I just think with the pressure and everything that I felt like I just needed to be perfect. I always feel like I’m not perfect unless I’m perfect,” she said. “That’s not a fun way to live your career and live your life.”
Williams, whose older sister, Venus, was one of the few people in the stands, said whatever blips came Thursday “could help me know what not to do next time.”
That’ll be Saturday against Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion.
It is their seventh matchup; Williams leads 5-1, including victories in the past four meetings, but they last played at the 2015 French Open. Stephens’ lone head-to-head victory came all the way back at the 2013 Australian Open.
This caliber of contest certainly doesn’t feel as if it belongs in merely the third round at a Slam, but that’s the luck of the draw this time.
“I’m playing such a good player so early,” Williams said, “so I have to bring what I can even more.”
What will also be odd: the quiet.
All spectators were banned from Flushing Meadows this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I know if there were fans it would be so lit, and I’m kind of sad that we’re not playing in front of fans, because it would be so fun,” said the 26th-seeded Stephens, who advanced by defeating Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-2. “The atmosphere won’t be as big, but obviously a big opportunity to play against the greatest player in the world. So, yeah, unfortunate but still fortunate.”
Williams turns 39 this month and expended a lot of energy lately. All five matches she played from the resumption of the tour after its COVID-19 hiatus to the start of the U.S. Open went three sets; her record was 3-2.
Both U.S. Open wins came in straight sets, at least.
But things weren’t as easy as they might have been against Gasparyan, who deploys a one-handed backhand and whose only trip to the fourth round at a major ended with a loss to Williams at the 2016 Australian Open.
