Serena Williams turns back the clock with stunning upset

Playing more like a world No 1 than a player ranked outside the top 600, Serena Williams turned back the clock on Wednesday to stun world No 2 Anett Kontaveit 7-6(4) 2-6 6-2 and move into the third round of the US Open, putting her retirement plans on pause.

Defeat has always been hard to swallow for the fiercely competitive Williams and the 40-year-old American’s relentless will to win was on full display during an absorbing 2hr 27min contest of unexpectedly high quality, breathless intensity and drama.

Earlier in August Williams had signalled her intention to retire, saying she was “evolving away from tennis”, but never confirmed the US Open as her final event.

Any farewell has now been put on hold with Williams due back on centre court on Thursday for a doubles match with older sister Venus, followed by a third-round clash on Friday with Australian Ajla Tomljanovic who was a 1-6 6-2 7-5 winner over Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina.

“I’m a pretty good player,” Williams said with a grin when asked how she downed the world No 2.

“This is what I do best — I love a challenge, I love rising to a challenge. The last couple matches here in New York it’s really come together. I’m supercompetitive — honestly I’m just looking at it as a bonus. I have absolutely nothing to prove.”

With 23 Grand Slam titles and widely regarded as the greatest women’s player of all time, Williams indeed has done it all on the tennis court. But after two wins the once unthinkable dream of a Hollywood ending to Williams’ career — snatching an elusive 24th Major to go level with Margaret Court at the top of the all-time list — just might be on the cards.

Asked if she was starting to believe she could win a seventh US Open, Williams demurred, insisting she was still taking it a match at a time, but said things were “coming together”.

“I cannot think that far,” Williams said. “I’m here, I’m having fun and I’m enjoying it. I’m playing pretty good. I feel I’ve been practising really well, but it hasn’t been coming together in matches. But, you know, now it’s kind of coming together.”

A former world No 1 for 319 weeks, Williams arrived in New York ranked below 600, unseeded and with just a single match win from three events coming into the season’s final Grand Slam.

It had been more than a year — at the 2021 French Open — since Williams last posted back-to-back wins. She faced a daunting challenge in 26-year-old Kontaveit, a player whose game was built for the hard court and who won five of her six titles on the surface.

With none of the prematch festivities that took place ahead of her first-round match against Danka Kovinic to distract her, Williams stepped onto the court with her game face on. She delivered a performance that had an Arthur Ashe Stadium record crowd of 29,959, including fellow sporting greats Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn, on its feet.

Earlier Coco Gauff beat Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-2 7-6(4). The 18-year-old clawed back from 5-3 down in the second set to reach the third round and claim her second consecutive win on the world’s largest stage for tennis, the 23,771-capacity crown jewel of Flushing Meadows.

Gauff was viewed as a possible heir apparent to the Williams sisters when as a 15-year-old she stunned Venus in the first round of Wimbledon in 2019. Her best result at a Grand Slam so far was reaching the French Open final in June.

“It’s a really big court and I’ve been watching Venus here, Serena here and now I’m playing here,” Gauff said. “It’s an honour to open up the court for her tonight.”

Next up for the 12th seeded Gauff is a meeting with hard-hitting fellow American Madison Keys after she won a tense third-set tiebreaker to see off Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-4 5-7 7-6(6). 

Reuters