Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki are set to play the doubles final at the ASB Classic on Sunday, while in singles semifinals they had mixed results, with the American needing just 44 minutes to reach the title match, while the soon-to-be-retiring Dane suffered a bagel in the third set.
The top-seeded Williams blitzed past compatriot Amanda Anisimova, ranked 25th in the world, 6-1 6-1 and got another chance to win her first title since becoming a mom. The 23-time Grand Slam champion’s spotless performance included five aces, zero double faults, 68% first serves, 77% first serves won, 75% second serves won, and perfect 5/5 break point conversion. When Williams won her first major title, the 18-year-old Anisimova wasn’t born yet.
Next up for Williams will be young American Jessica Pegula, who produced a comeback win over fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki, 3-6 6-4 6-0. The world No.82 Pegula realized that she couldn’t overcome Wozniacki by playing defensive, so after dropping the first set she increased her aggression and trusted her game. Controlling the match from the baseline, Pegula moved Wozniacki around the court and the former world No.1 started having a hard time keeping up with the pace.
Despite Wozniacki being bageled in the third set at the penultimate tournament of her career, we shouldn’t be disappointed with her result in Auckland, as she had eliminated twice defending champion Julia Goerges in the previous round.
Moreover, Wozniacki is still alive in doubles, where she’ll play the final alongside good friend Serena Williams. Note that Serena is through to the finals in both singles and doubles for the 12th time in her career! Plus, only once did the tennis legend make the final in both competitions and not complete the sweep — at 2008 Wimbledon, when she won the doubles title with sister Venus, but lost the singles championship match to… Venus.
The all-American Auckland singles final is scheduled for Sunday, 5 p.m. local time. Afterwards, the one-time-only doubles pairing of Wozniacki and Williams will step on the court against Americans Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend.
