Serena Williams' U.S. Open dream continues with second-round win over Anett Kontaveit
Serena Williams’ legacy just keeps growing.
Facing a feisty second-round opponent and the possible end of her iconic career, Williams came up with a magical third set and defeated Anett Kontaveit in a second-round match in front of an awestruck crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium Wednesday night.
With the crowd cheering her every point, Williams beat the No. 2 seed 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2.
"It's no rush here," the 40-year-old Williams said during her on-court interview after a match that ran two hours, 26 minutes. "I'm loving this crowd. Oh, my goodness. It's really fantastic. So there's a little left in me."
Williams, generally acknowledged to be the best woman to play the game, set off a mad ticket grab when she announced earlier this month that she would likely retire after this U.S. Open. Patrons got what they paid for this time as Williams blasted 11 aces and moved around the court like she had walked through a time machine between this win and her first-round match.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, has had some of her greatest moments at the U.S. Open. This match ranks right up there, considering that the unseeded Williams has struggled since she came back on the tour this year and was playing a player ranked No. 2 in the world.
It was the best tennis that Williams has played since getting injured in the first round of Wimbledon last year. Heading into the U.S. Open, Williams had only played in four matches since that injury. She had won only one of them and most recently lost in the first round of the Western & Southern Open.
The question now is how far can Williams go? Next up is Ajla Tomljanovic, the 46th ranked player in the world. This will be the first meeting of the two players.
“Well, I’m a pretty good player,” Williams said when asked about the third set. “This is what I do best. I love the challenge, and I’m rising to the challenge. I haven’t played many matches but I’ve been practicing really well.”
After winning a close first set, Williams looked tired in the second. She then headed to the locker room and seemed to return with a new resolve.
“She raised her level in the third set,” Kontaveit said. “She played amazing. I thought I played a decent match and she was better today.”
Said Williams: “After I lost the second set, I thought ‘Oh my goodness, I have to give my best effort because this could be it.”
Williams has won six titles at the U.S. Open, more than any other player in the open era. Her first win came as a 17-year-old in 1999. For the next two decades, she was the player everyone was gunning for. Wednesday night, she said that is no longer the case which has made this tournament into something special.
“Yeah, I just feel like I have had a big red X on my back since I won the U.S. Open in '99,” she said. “It's been there my entire career, because I won my first Grand Slam early in my career.
But here it's different. I feel like I've already won, figuratively, mentally. It's just pretty awesome the things that I've done . . . I don’t’ have anything to prove.”
The Open set another record for night-session attendance Wednesday with 29,959 fans entering the National Tennis Center. It was the second night-session attendance record set in three nights, breaking Monday's 29,402 mark.
The hoopla surrounding Wednesday night’s match was significantly lower key than Monday’s circus-like opener Still, there was a wide array of celebrities cheering Williams on. Tiger Woods, Dionne Warwick, Anna Wintour, Zendaya, Spike Lee, Gladys Knight, Seal and Anthony Anderson in attendance.
An Estonian who lives in London, Kontaveit said she understood intellectually that the crowd was going to be behind Williams, but it ended up being more difficult that she imagined.
“I saw her previous match. I expected it,” she said. “But when you’re on the court, I mean it was hard."
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
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