It was a match apart, suspended in time and now entered into the great history of tennis. Holder of 23 Grand Slam titles, Serena Williams lost to Alja Tomljanovic in 3:08 after an epic battle in three sets (7-5, 6-7, 6-1) and more than three hours. Until the last breath, the Queen did not let go as evidenced by the six match points necessary for her opponent to put an end to this confrontation. Six is precisely the number of Serena titles at the US Open. Undoubtedly a nice wink of fate.
Barring an unforeseen reversal of the situation, Alja Tomljanovic will remain as the last tenniswoman to have defeated Serena Williams on a tennis court. For her first match against the living legend, the Australian could not have dreamed of a better place with the Arthur-Ashe court, in night session on a Friday evening.
The sixth was fatal to her: Tomljanovic’s match point which made Serena fall
US Open
She fought like a lioness, until the end: the 5 match points saved by Serena
2 HOURS AGO
Too tight physically
Suffice to say that faced with an audience of 24,000 people entirely committed to the cause of the national champion, the case was far from settled in advance. Very far even, since Williams quickly got into action to prevent the recent quarter-finalist at Wimbledon from taking off. Trailing 1-0, Serena reacted tit for tat to prevent the confirmation of the break then put herself in a strong position at 5-3, serve to follow. But against all odds, the American faltered to lose four games in a row and give up the first set in 50 minutes (7-5).
She fought like a lioness, until the end: the 5 match points saved by Serena
Fairly pissed off, Serena Williams transformed her anger towards herself to inflict a walking tornado on her opponent at the start of the second round. But with a double break in hand at 4-0, the Queen once again suffered a dry spell. The two players found themselves at 5-5, then 6-6 for a tie-break where the nerves had to be strong. Too much pressure for Serena? Far from there. La Floridienne won the duel 7-4 to equalize after 2h12 of play (7-6).
Tears for her, goosebumps for us: Serena Williams’ speech
On his way, Williams even won the first game of the third and final round to dream of a possible victory. Unknowingly, Williams was (arguably) winning the last game of his professional career at that point. Too physically fair against a younger and tougher opponent, Williams still offered a dream final to her audience, like this last game lasting a quarter of an hour, where she saved five balls from match with courage before giving in. All together, tennis fans thank him for this “sacred ride” described during his bow.
US Open
Tears for her, goosebumps for us: Serena Williams’ speech
2 HOURS AGO
US Open
Serena, champions never die
YESTERDAY AT 06:01