Serena destroyed Errani in under an hour; no surprise there. I missed most of the match and I’ve no intention of going back and watch it now, for I know what to expect: hard baseline hitting from Serena obscuring quality play on Errani’s part.
But Azarenka and Sharapova gave life to one of the best matches I’ve seen all year. MaSha started by hitting hard and finding incredible angles, which pushed Vika back for the better part of a half-hour. By the time Azarenka was in the match, Maria was already up a set. Virtually the opposite happened in the second set, with Vika taking the lead and Sharapova finding that her play was simply no longer good enough—and by the time MaSha adapted, it was one set all. This emotional and tactical teeter-totter is very common in tennis, of course.
The third set is what made this a truly great match, and especially the fourth game. Azarenka quickly broke serve and Sharapova immediately broke back. Azarenka held fairly easily… and then Sharapova’s service game lasted 15 minutes, with 6 deuces before Maria eventually held too. It was so clear that for the players, that was the crucial game, that to break or be broken a second time would have been a major psychological downfall, and so they fought for it. (Some of the best rallies of the match came from this game, too). Sure enough, when Azarenka eventually did break serve two games later, it was downhill for her and MaSha never recovered... though certainly not for lack of trying!
I was very pleased to watch a match between two of the world’s best players who consistently played the best tennis they could, for over two hours. That is a rare feat in any sport and it must be celebrated. Plus, they both look and sound great… ;-)
Today: men's semifinals (Murray-Berdych, Djokovic-Ferrer) and women's final (Azarenka-Williams). If there are no surprises, it will be Murray-Djokovic in Monday's final. As for the ladies... I really have no idea. It's no surprise that I despise the Williams sisters and the kind of tennis they stand for, but honestly, Serena has the upper hand on Vika and will probably win. But I hope she doesn't, and if I know Azarenka, she'd rather die than not fight till the very end!
TODAY: MEN'S SEMIFINALS
Murray-Berdych (11:00 a.m.)
Djokovic-Ferrer (following)
LATER TODAY: WOMEN'S FINAL
Azarenka-Williams (7:00 p.m.)
 |  |
| VICTORIA AZARENKA | SERENA WILLIAMS |
| THIS U.S. OPEN Sets W-L: 13-2 Games W-L: 80-35 Full stats here | THIS U.S. OPEN Sets W-L: 12-2 Games W-L: 72-34 Full stats here |
HEAD TO HEAD
Played: 10
Azarenka wins: 1
Williams wins: 9
Hard court: 5-1 Williams
Latest: 6-1, 6-2 Williams (Olympics semi)
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