Us Open – Serena Williams also beats Kontaveit

The (sports) crocodiles on Serena Williams’ career will remain stuck in the hard drives of the computers of all the newsrooms in the world at least for another couple of days, because the Queen has combined another of hers. The whole planet was almost certain that the one against Anett Kontaveit would be the last match of Serena’s competitive life, but not: even the seed number 2 of these Us Open was sent by Williams, at the end of three sets of a beautiful, vibrant, exciting game, unexpected from many points of view.

The enterprise

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Incredible, but true. Incredible because we are talking about an almost 41-year-old who in recent years has played little or nothing and who was facing one of the best interpreters of this sport at this time, but who despite everything has been able to do nothing against Serena. So, once again the catwalks are postponed, as well as the tears and greetings, even those of the VIPs, many in the stands as usual (this time the 82-year-old Dionne Warwick, a true legend of music, had even bothered). Serena moves forward in the tournament, and she may not stop there. Once she got rid of Kontaveit, the draw opened becoming interesting for Williams, at least to get to the second week of the US Open: in the third round she will face Ajla Tomljanovic, in case of victory against the Australian then it would touch one of the Samsonova (who eliminated last year’s finalist, Leylah Fernandez) and Krunic.

The shape

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Nothing impossible for this Serena, who is doing everything to postpone the final greetings, to the delight of the fans and for her millions of fans around the world, first of all those of the Arthur Ashe, crazy for the feats of Williams . After all, it’s a very, very American story, impossible for them not to be raving about. Also because, net of everything, the former world number one played a great match. A very hard-fought first set, which was decided at the tie break, a second set that instead had escaped with a 6-2 for Kontaveit: that initial 7-6, in fact, seemed to be Serena’s last big blaze as a player. Mistake. Williams in the third immediately broke the Estonian serve, with the possibility of going 3-0 unexploited, throwing away the service after being 40-0 ahead. The clouds, however, were, once again, swept away by another break, with Serena who did not tremble this time taking to 4-1. At that point, as a champion you are, the former world number one never took his foot off the accelerator, closing the matter 6-2. Kontaveit didn’t play badly, she didn’t even suffer too much from the emotion and atmosphere of the moment: simply, Serena was superior to her. And we are talking about a nearly 41-year-old at the end of her career against the number two in the world. “I want to do everything to win but I feel I have nothing to lose, it’s fun, I like being here, I like to continue on this long journey, that’s what I’ve been doing for a long, long time,” Williams said after the match. . With a smile that the opponents know all too well, and that she is turning into an ancient threat to all.