Serena Reaches U.S. Open Semis in Rout of Pennetta
World number one Serena Williams coasted into the U.S. Open semifinals Wednesday night, beating 11th seeded Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-2 to move into the final four at Flushing Meadows. The two-time defending champion looked to be in trouble early, allowing two breaks on her first two service games as the Italian took a 3-0 first-set lead.
“I felt she was playing really well,” said the top-seeded Serena. “I didn’t feel like I was doing too much wrong out there, and that if she kept it up, she absolutely deserved the win. But I just kept trying to do better.”
She would do better, and the world’s top player rattled off the next six games of the opening set in what seemed like easy fashion. At many points during the latter part of the opening frame, Pennetta threw her hands up in the air after points in disbelief, as Serena’s precision and accuracy turned up a notch.
At 2-2 in the second set, Williams broke at love to go ahead 3-2, and that was the final straw for Pennetta. The 32-year-old American reeled off the next three games to close out the straight-set victory and move into the semifinals.
Up next for the five-time U.S. Open champion is 17th-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova, whom Serena is all too familiar with. Makarova and her doubles partner, Elena Vesnina, beat Serena and her sister Venus in the doubles quarterfinals on Tuesday. She also beat Serena at the 2012 Australian Open.
“I’ve played two lefties already this tournament, and I often practice with Varvara [Lepchenko], who’s a lefty, and I think that’s been good for me, so I’m ready for another lefty,” said Serena of her semifinal opponent. “I think it will be a good match. She’s beaten me before. I’m obviously going to just try and do the best I can.”
The other semifinal matchup will feature the10th seeded Caroline Wozniacki and unseeded Shuai Peng of China.
