ASB Classic, Auckland

Women’s Semifinal: [CR19] Venus Williams (USA) vs. [CR54] Lauren Davis (USA)

No disrespect to Davis, but she had no weapons to counter Williams powerful strokes and attacking game.  Therefore, she had to hope that Williams would have one of her streak of errors and then capitalize on it. Williams is a confident player at the moment and although she had a patchy period in the second set, she easily regrouped. Williams took every opportunity to punish the soft shots from Davis and moved fairly well around the court.

Feeling the pressure to elevate her game, Davis tried to hit the ball harder and approach the net more.  An inopportune fall in the first set would lead to a medical time out, shaking her confidence.  However, Davis is a fighter and she showed that in the second set, breaking Williams a few times; unfortunately, she was unable to maintain the lead.  Williams was determined and not about to be derailed from her goal of another final.  Despite a few more errors creeping into her game in the second set, Williams won 6-0, 6-3.  Yet, she will have to take her first serve percentage up a lot if she hopes to win another final.