By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday August 26, 2019
This one goes to 19. Serena Williams stretched her improbable winning streak over Maria Sharapova with a dominant performance on Day 1 of the US Open .
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
That’s the way the Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova rivalry has gone ever since 2005, and nothing changed in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day One of the US Open as the six-time champion hammered the Russian yet again, 6-1 6-1 for her 19th consecutive win over Sharapova.
Asked if she feels this US Open is her tournament to win, Williams replied "Yeah, I feel like I'm here to do that. We'll see what happens."
It was billed as a blockbuster, and deemed a tricky draw for Williams, who has struggled at the majors more than usual since she returned from maternity leave at Roland Garros in 2018.
But Williams’ struggles aren’t the struggles of mere mortals. Even in the dire search for form and fitness she has managed three Grand Slam finals out of her last six major appearances. The fact that she has lost them all is surprising—even shocking—but if we see the glass half full we see an absolute legend perched on the precipice of another Grand Slam triumph.
While Williams has seemingly forgotten how to win Grand Slam finals, on Monday she showed that she remembers very well how to blast past Sharapova. In her 22nd career meeting with Sharapova Williams was ruthless from the start. She hit nine winners against three unforced errors and won 27 of 39 points in total in the first set.
The 23-time major champion needed just 24 minutes to seal the set and kept her foot on the accelerator, breaking immediately to start the second stanza.
It was the Serena Williams show in New York City on Monday, and with Spike Lee and Mike Tyson looking on the American was ready to do the right thing and land plenty of knockout punches on a Sharapova who just can’t seem to get her game out of neutral in 2019.
“When you play her you have to be super focused, so every time I play against her I just bring out some of my best tennis,” Williams said when asked to explain why she plays so well against Sharapova.
She added: “It was a fun match.”
Sharapova underwent minor shoulder surgery in February, and the Russian has won just three of nine matches since reaching the second week of the Australian Open in January.
That run to the second week started the season with some promise for Sharapova, but all the hope has dwindled as she searches for form and struggles to win. The Grand Slam season has come and gone and Sharapova finishes with a 3-3 record.
"It's taking me a long journey to get to this hard court season," Sharapova said. "I missed a lot of this year with my shoulder. Just getting the routines back and being back in the draws is, you know, it's tough to talk about after a defeat, but it's a long road. It's facing an opponent that's at her stature is extremely difficult in the first round of a slam, coming in with the fact that I haven't played that much."
For Williams the hope springs eternal. She clinches her 96th career victory at the US Open and will move on to face 17-year-old American Caty McNally in the second round.
Williams has now claimed 18 consecutive sets against Sharapova and she improves to 72-1 lifetime in first-round matches the majors.