Twenty-three-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams recovered from losing the second set to beat current world No.1 Simona Halep in a blockbuster fourth-round clash at the Australian Open, 6-1 4-6 6-4.
The 16th-seeded Williams had her serve broken at the very start of the match, but from that moment on the American absolutely dominated the set, winning it in just 20 minutes.
Williams looked to be continuing the momentum as she earned a break to lead 2-1 in the second set, but Halep broke back right away and held at love with perfect serves to lead 3-2. Overall, the tone of the second set was that Halep became more aggressive and made the rallies longer, while Williams became more prone to errors and in the tenth game Williams dropped serve, sending a backhand long to hand the set to the Romanian.
The tense decider went with serve until 3-3, when Williams took charge to lead 5-3 and then earned her first match point with a backhand winner. Williams capitalized on that first match point, when Halep sent a forehand wide, improving her head-to-head record against the No.1 to 9-1.
Williams’ quarterfinal opponent will be seventh seed Karolina Pliskova, the 2019 Brisbane International champion, who is still undefeated this season. The Czech hit just three unforced errors along with 23 winners in her fourth-round victory over Garbine Muguruza.
Will someone please volunteer to coach Madison Keys so that they can work on expanding and broadening her game? Also, her mental toughness and will to win…… Clearly, this young lady needs more than her current one dimensional baseline rally game type. She can’t run down shots, she fails to use spin, or different racquet head preparations, and doesn’t come in or attack or have point set-up/composition….she is lacking terribly, and she will never win a major if this continues. We need an arrogant, brash, headstrong, cocky, tennis celebrity to volunteer to take over Keys and try to salvage something there. Please…..help someone.
Well, Serena is the favourite but I would really appreciate Petra go all the way!
Richard, Madison Keys needs the help of one Carlos Rodriguez..not some headstrong celeb who would just be looking for the spotlight. Rodriguez helped both Justine Henin and Li Na win Grand Slam tournaments.
Yeah, I’ve been saying the same thing about Madison Keys for quite some time now: GET A BETTER COACH! She should’ve fired Davenport ages ago, and I hope she’s really parted ways with her for good. I can’t help but wonder why she won’t be smart like Osaka when it comes to choosing her coach. She could’ve easily had Sacha as her coach before Osaka. Perhaps Sacha approached Osaka and recruited her himself, knowing how she adores Serena Williams and emulates her. Also, why in the world would Sloane Stephens (she also makes very unwise choices often, just like Keys) get rid of the coach who undoubtedly helped her win her first slam title? Makes no sense at all! Now that they’ve parted ways, Madison Keys should hire him ASAP, if she’s serious about getting that first slam title. Too bad Serena got called by some goofy lines person for a foot fault on match point against Pliskova, which was an ace as usual (she goes out with aces all the time to win a match); as well, twisted her foot and went downhill afterwards. And that staffer who smiled when her back was to him, as she was walking down the hall after defeat needs to be fired. It’s obvious he found it glorious that she lost. She fought so hard in the 2nd set to make it to the 3rd. She earned that match, but it was stolen by a petty lines person. She also lacked fight & fire to me from the onset; she never had the “roar” she’s known to have and display. As a couple of commentators stated about the foot fault call: Are you serious to call a foot fault on match point and hadn’t called one the entire match until then!!?? No doubt, Osaka will bring home the prize when she annihilates the rest of the ladies. She’ll get revenge against Pliskova as payback for her idol Serena “Still The GOAT” Williams.
Come oonn “the real deal” so you think foot fault shouldn’t be called? And serena said that her foot wasn’t problem. Plus she got THREE more match points afterwards why didn’t she used them