Internazionali BNL D’Italia, Rome

Women’s Semifinal: [1] Serena Williams (USA) vs. [24] Madison Keys (USA)

Keys defeated Garbine Muguruza earlier in the day playing some of the best tennis I have seen from her recently.  Muguruza was overwhelmed by the consistent depth and pace of her shots. Muguruza was also rattled by a slew of costly double faults.  Once Keys won the first set tiebreak, she seemed to play with more freedom, a dangerous concept given the pace of her shots.  She went for more depth and pace and her shots went in, which further frustrated the Spaniard.  Keys won 7-6(5), 6-4 and advanced to her first final at this tournament.

Her opponent will be Williams, who struggled through the first set.  It was a complete reversal from the quality of tennis she had on display last night against Svetlana Kuznetsova.  She was being dictated to by Begu, which was rather surprising given Williams’ power.  Thankfully, she flipped a switch in the second set and squashed any hopes Begu had of getting the upset.  Yet, the question comes up once again, was this erratic performance a sign of the underlying pressure she’s feeling?  Although Serena won 6-4, 6-1, she only served at 59% and was broken three times. How will she fare against the young American Keys, who is hitting the ball with such ferocious pace?  Williams leads their head-to-head 2:0; however, this is their first meeting on clay.