MELBOURNE • Serena Williams was not about to let Simona Halep derail her run to a 24th Grand Slam women’s singles championship. Not again.
The summer of 2019 may seem like a lifetime ago in a world reeling from a pandemic that is taking a second lap of the calendar.
But for Williams, the scab from her humbling loss to Halep in the Wimbledon final that July remains as fresh as the day the Romanian held her to four games on the All-England Club’s hallowed grass.
Williams’ 6-3, 6-3 victory against Halep yesterday in the Australian Open quarter-finals was not as surgical as the dismemberment that Halep administered in their previous meeting. She finished with more unforced errors (33) than winners (24).
But two days after she was extended to three intense sets by Aryna Sabalenka, Williams, 39, was spry enough to outrun and outlast the second-ranked Halep, who is 10 years younger.
“I feel pretty good with that performance,” the world No. 11 said.
“I feel like I needed to have a good performance obviously today, especially after my last match against her.”
The 2019 Wimbledon final was the third of four Major title deciders that Williams has played since she won the 2017 Australian Open to pull within one Slam of equalling the career record held by Margaret Court.
She is one victory from earning another shot at it, but to get there she will have to defeat another player who derailed an earlier run.
That would be world No. 3 Naomi Osaka, who beat Williams in the 2018 US Open final for the first of her three Slams.
The Japanese, who won the US Open again last year, extended her winning streak to 19 matches earlier yesterday with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-wei.
After her win, Osaka said she planned to watch the battle between Halep and Williams, though not necessarily to find out who she would face next.
“I always watch Serena play,” she said of her idol. “I feel like everyone in the tournament watches her. Like, whenever I go to the locker room or whatever, there’s always just people lounging around and stuff, watching her match.”
Since Williams last won a Slam, a lot of the attention in women’s tennis has shifted to Osaka.
Last year, she supplanted the American as the highest-earning woman in sports on the strength of over US$30 million (S$39.8 million) in off-court endorsements.
Her rise led a reporter to ask on the eve of this tournament how she was dealing with being seen as the face of women’s tennis.
“As long as Serena’s here,” Osaka replied, “I think she’s the face of women’s tennis.”
Tomorrow’s meeting with the former world No. 1 will be Williams’ 40th Major semi-final.
It will also be her first time facing Osaka in a Slam since the 2018 final in New York, a turbulent match marked by three code-of-conduct violations against her. But when asked about her relationship with Osaka, Williams, who trails 2-1 in head-to-head clashes, claimed there was no bad blood.
“I think we both have had closure,” Williams said. “I think she’s a great competitor and a cool cat. Obviously, I have an incredible opponent to play, so it would be nice to hopefully keep raising the level of my game. I’m going to have to.”
NYTIMES
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Day 10: Singtel TV Ch114 & StarHub Ch208, 8am