US OPEN

[CR1] Serena Williams (USA) vs. [CR19] Madison Keys (USA)

It was billed as a match that could potentially trip Williams up in her quest to achieve the Calendar Grand Slam. Quite understandable, as their one previous encounter at this year’s Australian Open was quite a battle, at least in the first set.  Thus, there was moderate possibility that Keys could test Williams, and even upset her. After the shaky performance in her previous match against Mattek-Sands, questions were swirling about which Williams would show up today.  Her fans need not have been too concerned as Williams brought out her best tennis to date at this US Open.  She played with controlled aggression, served much better, and kept the errors to a minimum.Keys never had a chance to get into the match as Williams gave her no opportunity to break her serve. Keys never had a chance to get into the match. Williams gave her no opportunity to break her serve and broke Keys three times to get the 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Williams can see the finish line and knew that she needed to  elevate her game.  Her ability to sharpen her focus during adverse conditions is a trait of Williams that I find amazing.  Her next opponent may be her biggest threat though.  The emotional impact of playing her sister may be the one variable we did not take into consideration that may actually derail Serena’s plans.  It’s unfortunate that both sisters have to play each other at all. If Venus is able to defeat Serena, it may be the one time that Venus will truly regret winning a match.  Yet, before I get carried away, let’s remember that Serena leads their head-to-head 15:11. Although there is one interesting statistic to keep in mind, Venus won their most recent hard court match.