Australian Open 2021: Serena Williams moving ‘better than ever’ ahead of clash with Simona Halep — coach
Simona Halep has beaten Serena Williams just twice in 11 matches. Her coach says it won’t get any easier against the now-39-year-old marvel.
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Tennis legend Serena Williams – at age 39 – is moving better than she has in years, Simona Halep’s Australian coach Darren Cahill says.
Williams will continue her four-year hunt for a record-equalling 24th grand slam title against Halep in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Halep’s beaten the American superstar only twice from 11 meetings, but she won their last clash in comprehensive fashion in the 2019 Wimbledon final.
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Vision from that contest is set to be part of Halep’s preparation for the latest showdown.
“(Williams is) playing as well as I’ve seen her play for a long time. She’s moving as well as I’ve seen her move, and defend, in the last four or five years,” Cahill said.
“She’s confident. She’s Serena Williams. It’s all-encompassing when you play somebody like her, and it’s why she’s such a great challenge.”
Cahill’s comments are a chilling warning to Halep and other remaining contenders, given Williams is returning from an Achilles setback and withdrew from a lead-up event with a right shoulder issue.
Her ability to reinvent herself, in some ways, including a new returning position, is evidence of why she’s remained at the top of the sport for more than two decades.
Cahill has another theory on Williams’ longevity, pointing to her longstanding partnership with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, which started in 2012 and coincided with 10 of her major titles.
“If you look at all the great champions in our sport, they have good people around them and that gives them balance and keeps them in the sport,” he said.
“We talk a lot about the attributes of the great champions and Serena has many, obviously.
“But the one thing you look at that seems to be consistent and constant throughout her team – and you can go through Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Venus, it doesn’t matter who it is – is they have good people around them and they’re there for a long time.
“That gives stability. It means they’re able to get the most out of their careers … the players who go from coach to coach to coach and keep changing will never get to reach the potential they could possibly get to.”
Williams passed her first great test this fortnight with a three-set triumph over world No.7 Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday
RELIEVED HALEP CONTINUES YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
You never write off a champion – but second seed Simona Halep could be running out of lives at the Australian Open.
For the second time this tournament, the two-time grand slam champion has pulled off a great escape – toppling French Open champion Iga Swiatek in three sets to set up a quarter-final showdown with Serena Williams.
Just as she did against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in their three-set second round encounter, Halep roared back to life after conceding the first set – saying afterwards that she made key adjustments to keep her title hopes alive.
“After the first set I knew I had to change something. I was hitting too strong and too flat, so I had to roll the ball more,” Halep said.
“I think I moved her a little bit better and that’s why she started to miss a little bit more and then probably she lost a bit of rhythm and I got back in the game.”
In a second set that took just 26 minutes, Switek’s unforced error count – which finished the match at 42 to Halep’s 17 – rose dramatically as she slipped away from the contest.
After going down a break early in the third, Swiatek rallied to break back and level things at 2-2 – but gifting the fifth game back proved crucial with Halep immediately consolidating for a 4-2 lead.
It was a lead she wouldn’t concede, although the young Pole held her nerve to ensure Halep had to serve out the match and win it on her racquet.
Halep’s next challenge will be an entirely different test, as she goes from one of the youngster stars on tour, to the GOAT of women’s tennis.
Williams owns a 9-3 record over Halep, but in their most recent matchup the Romanian claimed victory in the 2019 Wimbledon final.
“Legend. She is the best,” Halep said of her rival.
“I don’t have to focus (on playing) Serena because it’s always tough to think about that.
“I have experience, I have so many matches against her. After tomorrow I will just try to enjoy myself on court and try my best. Because you only can beat Serena if you play your best.”
INSANE STATISTIC BEHIND SERENA’S BRUTAL WIN
Serena Williams is preparing for a remarkable 54th Grand Slam quarter-finals appearance after overcoming some wobbles to defeat Aryna Sabalenka in her fourth-round match on Sunday.
Williams, who entered the Australian Open under an injury cloud, now sits just three wins away from equalling Australian tennis legend Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles wins.
The 39-year-old is chasing an eighth title at Melbourne Park overall but her first since 2017.
Williams scored a 6-4 2-6 6-4 triumph over seventh seed Sabalenka in a match that did not all go her way.
Williams’ second set struggles rose their head again in the third set, with Sabalenka fighting her way back from 4-1 down to sit 4-4 in the closing stages.
However, Williams lifted and unforced errors from Sabalenka proved costly as the American took the final two games to get over the line.
“It was obviously real important because I didn’t want to be out of the tournament, so it felt good to kind of clutch that in the end and get through that,” Williams said.
“I just felt like even games that I lost, I was so close to winning. Not all games, but probably most of those games. I just needed to play better on the big points.
“I knew that I could. I still hadn’t reached my peak. I was like, ‘Okay, Serena, you got this, just keep going’.”
Sabalenka, 22, was born in 1998 – the same year as Williams made her tour debut.
Williams’ older sister Venus – who debuted on the tour a year earlier – was in the spectator-less stands to lend her support after her own second-round exit from the tournament.
“She’s really one of the only voices I hear,” Williams said.
“I don’t know if I zone out and she’s the only one I hear. I know when I hear her voice, it just makes me calm and confident. I think there’s something about it that just makes me feel really good.”
GREAT ESCAPE: INCREDIBLE OSAKA SURVIVES MASSIVE SCARE
– Chris Cavanagh
Even on an off day, it’s hard to keep a champion down.
Garbine Muguruza had Naomi Osaka on the ropes on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday – but could not land a knockout blow.
Leading 5-3 in the third set, Muguruza had two match points at 40-15 with Osaka on serve, as one of the boilovers of the Australian Open beckoned.
But the 2019 champion at Melbourne Park was having none of it.
Osaka pulled out two aces in winning the next four points and went on to win the next four consecutive games to take the match 6-4 4-6 7-5.
In doing so, the 23-year-old from Japan was only further wound in as favourite to take out a second Australian Open crown and fourth Grand Slam title overall.
“In the first match point I was just thinking that I didn’t hit a decent serve that entire game, so I should really focus on my serve,” Osaka said.
“I feel like my serve stats were pretty good that set, so I was just telling myself to do better.
“Then on the second point, when the rally started, I just told myself not to push but also don’t do something crazy and make a really bad unforced error.”
The tournament’s third seed, Osaka said she felt she had entered the match “over thinking” and her frustrations showed when she uncharacteristically threw away her racquet during the third set.
However, a return to “instinct-based tennis” when the heat was on helped turn around the match.
“I definitely would say for me nerves are involved,” Osaka said.
“I felt like this match I was very stressed. I think some people could see it because I wasn’t really hyped, I wasn’t outwardly saying, ‘C’mon’ or being positive.
“I’m mad at myself for throwing my racquet, but at the same time I feel like it unleashed the emotions and the nerves that I had a little bit.”
Osaka will meet world No. 71 Su-Wei Hsieh in a quarter-final match on Tuesday.
The pair have played on five occasions before, with Osaka winning four of those including the past two matches.
“She’s one of those players that, for me, if it was a video game, I would want to select her character just to play as her,” Osaka said of Hsieh.
“Because my mind can’t fathom the choices she makes when she’s on the court. It’s so fun to watch. It’s not fun to play.
“Whenever I play her, there’s a bit of hesitation in that mindset for me. So, yeah, it’s definitely going to be tough.”
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