Serena’s Calendar Slam likely at the US Open
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Williams, winner of the last 4 Grand Slams and past 3 US Opens, she is trying her chances at taking her 22nd Grand Slam! Serena’s quarter of the draw reads the likes of Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams, Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys – all capable of wonders, when playing their best tennis.
The women’s tournament is attracting as much interest as the men’s side as Serena can be the first player to win the Calendar Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. She won the US Open 6 times in her career – her first victory was back in 1999 as a 17-year old. The hardcourt suits her play style allowing her to maximise her powerful tennis, she will also have the patriotic crowd behind her as she closes in on history.
So what hope is there for anyone going against her in this case? With Williams just a month away from her 34th birthday, suffered a collapse against an up and coming star – Belinda Bencic in the semi-final of the Toronto Open. Although Serena won the final of Cincinnati, her serve was really on and off most of the time, she was also close to losing the match against Ana Ivanovic, thankfully her game went back up to highest standard deep in the 2nd set.
She also almost lost to Heather Watson in Wimbledon whe she seemed to feel the pressure closing in on the ‘Serena Slam’. Based on all that, there’s a chance she can choke up under the expectations at Flushing Meadows, however we would need to expect the likes of Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka or Simona Halep to up their game against her.
Halep had poor opening 6 months of the year including losing in the first round at Wimbledon, but now we see some sort of revival from her, reaching the finals in Toronto and Cincinnati. She was able to counter the top-25 side of the table to the Toronto decider where she retired due to illness against Bencic.
Simona was able ot beat Serena on hard court last year in the WTA Finals. Her recent improvements she will be seeded 2nd meaning Simona – Serena match up would have to wait all the way til the final.
Another big enemy can be Azarenka as they both met in the final twice in 2012 and 2013, both of which went in to the deciding 3rd set, taken by Serena on each occasion. The former world number 1 is one of very few players that is capable to consistely return Seren’a serve and not get outpowered in the battle of forehands.
Petra Kvitova, along with Belinda Bencic, is the only person to beat Williams in a singles match this year. Czech’s victory took play on clay in Madrid. However, Petra hasn’t advanced past 4th round of US Open in her career.
Last year’s runner-up Caroline Wozniacki has had good history in Flushing Meadows, reaching at least the semi-finals in the fourt of the last 6 years however with recent slump of form it will be definitely harder for her to reach the standard of game she was able to unleash in the previous years.
Surprise Wimbledon runner-up, Garbine Muguruza was defeated by qualifiers in her two matches since Wimbledon, however she tends to turn up the heat for Grand Slams, I would still rule her out completely though.
All in all, Serena has had it tough in the past days but in general, Serena with the momentum is unstoppable.
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