WHAT HAPPENED: Moms rule!
Arthur Ashe Stadium was turned over to the moms on Wednesday afternoon, and the Best Mom award went, as expected, to the six-time US Open champion Serena Williams—but not before a gut-check comeback over the surprise of the tournament, unranked Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, in the quarterfinals.
Williams advanced to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the 11th consecutive year with a physically draining and emotionally exhausting 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, tussle.
“I am happy to just be here standing and talking with you,” Williams said, in her post-match on-court interview. “I was like one point from not being here. I just kept fighting and never gave up. You got to keep going.”
“This just shows how tough moms are,” said the 38-year-old Williams. “You give birth to a child you can do just about anything.”
Williams’ three-year-old daughter, Olympia, has been on the grounds of the nearly deserted USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center grounds along with husband Alexis Ohanian for most of the tournament.
Pironkova’s two-year-old son, Alexander, and her husband were home in Bulgaria.
Another mom, Victoria Azarenka, could be the next to advance to Thursday’s semifinals. The two-time Australian Open champion and two-time Flushing Meadows runner-up will play Elise Mertens Wednesday evening, to fill out the final four.
From 3-3 in the middle set, the No. 3 seed Williams won 9 of the final 11 games, wrapping up the two-hour-12-minute match with a love service game.
Just getting to the quarterfinals in her first tournament in three years made the 32-year-old Pironkova the feel-good story of the tournament. At the end, the effort finally seemed to have caught up with her. With her left leg already taped starting the match, there were several times when, after long rallies, she bent down on the court to catch her breath.
“She’s incredible,” Williams said of Pironkova’s play that featured 27 winners and four aces. “She played unbelievable.”
Williams relied on the two things that have served her so well throughout her magnificent career—a big serve and an even bigger heart.
She bombed in 20 aces against 1 double fault, including slamming three consecutive aces to finish off the second set. She also cracked 44 winners off the ground, including a sizzling backhand winner on match point.
Williams had struggled mightily in the beginning against the gritty Bulgarian, who mixed up her shots with a severely sliced forehand on many occasions. After looking out-of -sync and off-balanced, her shoulders sagging and a lost look on her face for the first set and the beginning of the second, the No. 3 seed Williams found the form and the will to rally that has made her a 23-time Grand Slam champion and possibly the GOAT.
“She wins even when she is not playing her best tennis,” said ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Chris Evert, who knows a little about winning. “Nobody else can do that except for Serena.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Williams has been stuck on 23 Grand Slam crowns and her chase to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 major titles since winning the 2017 Australian Open. She has reached four finals since, including back-to-back runner-up showings here, in 2018 and 2019.
Williams knows that she will need to pick up her game from the very first ball in the next match, if she is to keep winning.
“I was a little fatigued at the start today, for whatever reason,” she said. “I can’t do that if I want to keep winning.”
MATCH POINT: Pironkova’s comeback got a huge lift with her quarterfinal result.
She is projected to crack the top 150 in the next world rankings are announced, after the tournament.
And the $425,000 quarterfinal prize money should make her life a lot easier now, suggested Evert.
“Now she can afford to have a nanny come along to her next tournament,” she quipped.
