A particularly intriguing and potentially electrifying women’s final headlines Day 13 of the 2019 US Open, as six-time US Open singles champion Serena Williams takes on first-time US Open finalist Bianca Andreescu. It’s a scenario that has an altogether familiar feel to it, as last year’s US Open women’s final also featured the all-timer against a first-timer, ending with Naomi Osaka claiming her first major crown. However this one ends, there’s history to be made on this day—and there figures to be a lot of excitement involved in making it.
Let’s be honest, every time Williams steps onto a tennis court, she’s re-writing some page of the record book. Since capturing her first Grand Slam singles title here in 1999 at 17, the now-37-year-old American has conducted a relentless assault on history. Of her 72 career titles, 45 have been won on hard courts; only Steffi Graf’s 37 hard-court titles even comes close. Through six rounds here, she now owns a 506-83 career record on cement, by far the best among active players. And across all four Slams, Williams has run her record to 349-48—also representing the most major wins in the Open era.
Here, the No. 8 seed has continued her furious editing, posting her 100th career US Open victory with a win over China’s Qiang Wang in the quarters before tying Chris Evert’s all-time US Open mark of 101 as she took out Elina Svitolina in the semis. Win No. 101 also punched her ticket to a record 10th US Open singles final—a full 20 years since reaching her first. A win today would not only give Williams a record 102nd Open win, but a record seventh US Open title, breaking the tie at six she also currently shares with Evert.
But the big one, the elusive one, remains, as the greatest player in the history of women’s tennis looks to equal the sport’s ultimate mark by tying Australia’s Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. A win today would get her there, but that one win has been a tough one for Williams to take.
Indeed, the American has been in an agonizing holding pattern since claiming major crown No. 23 at the 2017 Australian Open. Three times since then, she’s played her way into the final of a Slam—at Wimbledon and here in 2018, and again at Wimbledon this summer. All three times she’s lost in straight sets, looking completely un-Serena-like in ending absolutely brilliant runs with absolutely frustrating and befuddling finishes.
But in re-writing the record book through these two weeks, Williams appears also to have re-written that script. She’s done a splendid job of keeping her emotions in check here as she’s forged ahead with a singular focus and fire that have had her on the fast track to this event’s second Saturday since its opening night.
Williams has been all business here, and that business is winning. She’s dropped just one set in reaching her 33rd career Slam final, and seems only to get more finely-focused and increasingly ferocious with each passing round. Williams dropped a combined total of five games in her quarterfinal and semifinal wins. The first of those took 44 minutes to complete; the second, 70. Two late-stage major matches won in under two total hours. That’s pretty much the definition of dominance.
Andreescu, the No. 15 seed, has written a rather riveting story herself this year, emerging from the sport’s shadows to establish herself as one of the most dominant performers on the women’s tour. The 19-year-old Canadian has turned 2019 into her personal coming-out party, winning her first two career singles crowns—both on hard courts—while raising her ranking from No. 178 at the end of 2018 to No. 15 as she arrived in Flushing this year. If she can take the title today, she’ll rise to No. 5. Even if she loses, she’ll elbow her way into the game’s Top 10 for the first time in her career at No. 9.
It seems impossible to fathom now, but Andreescu failed to qualify for this event in each of the last two years. Now, she’s just the third woman in the history of this event—joining Venus Williams and Pam Shriver—to reach the final here in her main-draw debut.
You could call Andreescu a surprise finalist, but her appearance here is much less surprising when you consider the way in which the North Star has shimmered this season. The talented teen has not lost a completed match since March. She now has won her last 21 completed matches. In between her two tournament wins this year at Indian Wells in March and Toronto in early August, Andreescu was forced to retire in the fourth round of the Miami Open and also withdrew from the French Open prior to her scheduled second-round match—all because of a persistent shoulder injury. That tricky shoulder also sidelined her from the entire grass-court campaign, including Wimbledon.
But when she’s been healthy, she’s been a winner. And now fully healed, she’s owned her half of this draw. In just her fourth career major, she’s now just one win away from a first major title.
The teen plays a surprisingly mature game, owning supreme court savvy that belies her young age. Andreescu packs plenty of power off the ground and can mix things up when the situation calls for it. She can dictate pace and counter-punch with equal efficiency, but she’s the rare young player whose head is at least as much of a weapon as are her strokes. She’s a thinker—and she has never gone on court not thinking that she could win. That’s likely a large part of the reason she’s 7-0 this season against Top 10 players—the most Top-10 wins for any player in the women’s game.
Of course, facing off against the six-time US Open champion, who’s decimated her half of the draw and once again stands within arm’s reach of history is a whole other level of challenge for Andreescu. And then there’s the 18-year, 263-day age gap between the two, which is the largest-ever in a women’s Slam final in the Open era. But this matchup figures to be a lot less about experience than it is about expectation, and no one expects more from herself or is more aware of her recent Slam final shortcomings than Williams. Certainly, no one is more anxious to write an alternate ending.
The two women have met just once, with the Canadian taking the win in the final of this summer’s Toronto event; a match abbreviated when Williams was forced to retire with a bothersome back. Here, little has bothered the six-time champ—and less has distracted her.
While it’s unlikely Andreescu will be intimidated by either opponent or occasion, it’s going to be extremely difficult for her to keep pace with a woman who—for these two weeks anyway—has been the very definition of “irresistible force.” The single key for Williams will be to take the court for this seventh match with the same searing fire and singular focus that allowed her to plow through the first six. If she can do that, the title—and a long-awaited share of history—will be hers. I think she will.
This will be a good one, pitting the greatest of all time against a woman quickly growing into greatness. In a terrific two, Williams takes 24, and is the 2019 US Open women’s champion.
