By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday September 10, 2020
Serena Williams’ bid for a 24th major went up in smoke on Thursday night as a familiar friend and foe rallied to defeat the 23-time major champion in three intense sets.
Victoria Azarenka, rejuvenated and perhaps even better than ever, battled back from a set down to clinch a 1-6 6-3 6-3 victory and book her spot in a Grand Slam final for the first time since 2013.
Seven years ago it was Williams across the net from Azarenka at the US Open final, this time it will be two-time major champion Naomi Osaka, the 2018 champion who powered past American Jennifer Brady in a hard-hitting affair in Thursday’s first semifinal.
For Azarenka, there is relief in having finally taken down the great Williams at a Grand Slam for the first time in 11 tries. For Williams there is the sense of urgency that comes with age—as each of her last nine chances to win a major title have slipped away, doubts have grown about her capacity to ever tie Margaret Court’s tantalizing record of 24 major singles titles.
“I mean, it's obviously disappointing,” Williams said. “At the same time, you know, I did what I could today. I feel like other times I've been close and I could have done better. Today I felt like I gave a lot.”
Williams was relatively upbeat about her performance and happy to give full credit to Azarenka, a woman that she considers a kindred spirit in many ways. She also confirmed that she’s planning to play at Roland Garros. The French Open begins on September 26th, and Williams says she’ll be there.
“Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely going to be going to Paris,” she said.
Azarenka, meanwhile, has prolonged her stay in New York. The Belarusian put forth a truly gritty performance to lock down her 11th consecutive victory, winning 17 of 27 second serve points and breaking Williams four times on seven opportunities.
The effort is a testament to her fighting spirit. She looked to be headed for a lopsided loss after Williams dominated her in the opener.
“She served really, really well,” Azarenka said of her slow start. “I felt like I was kind of out of range. I wasn't finding my serve. Second serve was getting killed. I knew I had to get into the rallies, I needed to step up with my aggressivity, play a little smarter, play with a little bit more width of the court and bring the intensity up. I felt that intensity was important today, to bring it up.
“I'm glad that that worked out for me.”
Azarenka was able to turn the match around with attitude and aggressive shotmaking. She put Williams on the run and kept her there for the final two sets, absorbing the American’s pace, attacking her second serve and serving well when she needed it.
Williams looked to be in danger of going down without a fight when she pulled up with an injury while serving at 0-1, deuce in the third set, but the American rallied after a medical timeout and pushed Azarenka until the very end.
Williams later told reporters that the injury was her achilles tendon, not her ankle as many had believed, but that it had no direct impact on her performance down the stretch.
“it wasn't my ankle, it was actually my Achilles,” Williams clarified. “It just overstretched. It was pretty intense. Then that was that.”
So it is Azarenka who is the last mother standing in a tournament that has been defined by the inspiring performance of its mothers. Fans have regaled in their inspiring tennis throughout the fortnight (Tsvetana Pironkova made an improbable run to the quarters, losing to Williams, and two other mothers won matches out of a total of nine in the main draw), and Azarenka had a message for the mothers of the world after her victory.
“I hope it just hopefully inspires women to go after their dreams,” she said on court after the match. “I feel like you can’t always identify yourself as just one thing, you have many things you can do in your life. Being a parent is to me the most important thing in my life but I’m a tennis player on the court, I’m a fighter on the court I want to go after my dreams, my personal dreams, inspire my child. And I hope that women around the world know that they can do anything because being a parent is the toughest thing so once you can balance that you can do anything.”
Azarenka looks forward to a rematch of a final that never happened in Cincinnati two weeks ago when she meets Osaka in the final.
“Actually I’m so excited to play against her because we didn’t get to play last week so it’s going to be super fun,” she said. “She plays incredible. I watched a little bit today, they had some incredible rallies, she’s super powerful, so I’m going to have to stay strong and have fun. Playing in the final it’s a blessing, it’s a great opportunity—I’m going to take all the fun out of it.”