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Third set: *Pironkova 6-4, 3-6, 1-3 Williams
A dialed-in Williams breezes to a comfortable hold, capping it with a 120mph ace down the pipe. Another must-hold game coming up for Pironkova, who still trails by a break.
Third set: Pironkova 6-4, 3-6, 1-2 Williams*
After cruising on her serve early, Pironkiva has found herself fighting from behind in her last six service games. She is pushed to deuce from love-15 and 15-30 before escaping with the hold in another drawn-out marathon. She’s hit 21 winners against 22 unforced errors on the day (compared to 34 and 24 for Williams, respectively).
Third set: *Pironkova 6-4, 3-6, 0-2 Williams
Williams is pushed to deuce, but follows with a pair of unreturnable serves to close out the hold and back up the break. That’s five games on the trot for the American from 3-all in the second. A must-hold service game forthcoming for Pironkova.
Williams breaks in first game of third set!
Third set: Pironkova 6-4, 3-6, 0-1 Williams*
Leaving it all out there
Williams & Pironkova are giving everything they have. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/2I5uXj9oL7
Second set: Pironkova 6-4, 3-6 Williams
Williams goes down love-15, then 15-30. But the American digs in, pounding her 14th, 15th and 16th aces to back up the break and close out the set in style. We’re headed to a decider.
Williams breaks in eighth game of second set!
Second set: Pironkova 6-4, 3-5 Williams*
Serena Williams = LEFTY?!
Unreal reflex return to win the point. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/G44HKUJ0SH
Second set: *Pironkova 6-4, 3-4 Williams
Williams goes down love-15 and 15-30, but serves her way out of trouble once more as Pironkova doesn’t get a ball back in play the rest of the way.
Second set: Pironkova 6-4, 3-3 Williams*
Pironkova badly needed a straightforward service game and that’s what she produced, rattling off four quick points after misfiring a forehand volley for love-15. They’re on serve in the second.
Second set: *Pironkova 6-4, 2-3 Williams
Williams breezes through her third service game of the set, closing out the love hold with a 99mph ace out wide and an 88mph second-serve service winner.
Second set: Pironkova 6-4, 2-2 Williams*
Pironkova feels the pressure on her serve for a second straight service game, getting pushed to deuce and saving a break point before escaping with the hold. Williams is getting neutral in the baseline rallies far more effectively than in the first set, when Pironkova won all five exchanges of nine or more shots.
Second set: *Pironkova 6-4, 1-2 Williams
Williams is forced to deuce and made to work for the hold over a 12-point game, but the American is helped out mightily once again by her serve: she’s just slotted her ninth, 10th and 11th aces of the day. She’s also starting to get the ball deeper into the court in the rallies, denying Pironkova the time and space that she enjoyed in the first set.
Williams breaks in second game of second set!
Second set: Pironkova 6-4, 1-1 Williams*
Pironkova breaks in first game of second set!
Second set: *Pironkova 6-4, 1-0 Williams
First set: Pironkova 6-4 Williams
Serving at 15-love and three points from the set, Pironkova picks a poor time for her first double fault of the day. But she responds nicely, going 110mph ace, service winner and backhand winner to close out the set. Williams will need to go the distance if she hopes to keep her quest for a record-tying 24th major title alive.
First set: *Pironkova 5-4 Williams
Unforced errors are beginning to creep into Williams’ game at an inopportune time. She is pushed to 30-all after making a pair of them off the backhand side. Pironkova wins the next point with a sharp backhand from the baseline for set point, but Williams saves it with a forehand winner into an open court. She follows with a service winner but another unforced error from the baseline on the next point edges it back to deuce. Pironkova then slots a highlight-reel lob winner for a second set point, but wastes it with an overcooked forehand. From there Williams holds, closing it out with a 103mph ace down the middle. Pironkova will serve for the first set after the changeover.
First set: Pironkova 5-3 Williams*
Pironkova falls behind love-15 and is pushed to a second serve at 30-all, but she holds comfortably from there, capping the hold with a 109mph ace out wide. Williams will now serve to stay in the first set.
First set: *Pironkova 4-3 Williams
Williams holds at love, closing out the hold with her eighth winner (against five unforced errors). The American’s serve is keeping her afloat so far with 10 of 13 first-serve points won (77%), but she will need to improve her first-serve percentage (54%), especially if Pironkova manages to sustain this level.
First set: Pironkova 4-2 Williams*
Pironkova races through another service game. She’s lost only two of the 14 points on her serve. Williams is looking to avoid backhand-to-backhand exchanges by playing heavily to her opponent’s forehand, but Pironvoka’s movement and point construction have mostly thwarted the tactic so far.
Pironkova breaks in fifth game of first set!
First set: *Pironkova 3-2 Williams
First break of the match to the
Pironkova leads, 3-2. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/y2hgPjMd2Q
First set: Pironkova 2-2 Williams*
A promising start for Pironkova, who holds at love. Williams, who didn’t get a single ball back into play in the game, is having trouble reading the serve of the Bulgarian, who’s won eight of nine points on her racket.
First set: Pironkova 1-1 Williams*
Pironkova, surprisingly, opens with an ace: 108mph down the center. She follows with a forehand winner from the baseline to settle a 15-shot rally, then a service winner for 40-love. Pironkova gifts Williams one back with a forehand error, but holds on the next point with a forehand passing winner as Williams comes to net.
First set: *Pironkova 0-1 Williams (*denotes next server)
Williams is on serve to start the match and is quick off the mark, following a service winner with back-to-back aces: 108mph out wide and 115mph down the middle. Pironkova finally gets a ball back in play and on the board with a drop shot/lob combo winner, then pushes it to 40-30 when Williams misfires on a forehand. But Williams responds with her third ace to close out the hold in her opening service game.
The players have emerged from the tunnel into Arthur Ashe Stadium for today’s first quarter-final. Williams is unbeaten in four previous meetings with Pironkova including a pair of straight-sets wins in their two hard-court matches. Another straightforward outcome would very much be to the American’s benefit given the quick turnaround before tomorrow’s women’s semi-finals.
Chasing win 101 in Ashe, Serena’s ready #TeamUSATennis | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/sDiMr8ObQZ
Hello and welcome to Arthur Ashe Stadium for Wednesday’s daytime twinbill. A pair of quarter-final matches are on the menu with Serena Williams facing Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova, followed by an all-Russian clash betwen Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev.
Today’s opener is a matchup between two of the nine mothers in this year’s draw. The third-seeded Williams, who missed more than a year after having a daughter in 2017, will continue her quest for a record-tying 24th major title against the unseeded Pironkova, who is playing her first tournament after a three-year hiatus where she gave birth to a son. The winner advances to a semi-final matchup on Thursday against either No 16 Elise Mertens or unseeded Victoria Azarenka, who face off at 7pm local time.
Bryan will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Kevin Mitchell on Serena Williams’s campaign:
Nobody in tennis suffers for her art like Serena Williams – except maybe her one-time doubles partner, Andy Murray. On the women’s Tour, nobody retreats into her own world so completely under pressure, external and self-induced, to then emerge like a butterfly from a chrysalis and fly free.
Related: Serena Williams uses a butterfly effect to battle old enemy of time | Kevin Mitchell
