Reuters
Cincinnati, August 23: Serena Williams brushed off some serving troubles before cruising to a 6-4, 6-3 win over Elina Svitolina Saturday and will meet Simona Halep in the Cincinnati final.
Williams’ serve was off for a second consecutive match in Cincinnati and she committed 34 unforced errors but the world number one was never under serious threat from the 14th-seeded Ukrainian.
“I got off to a super slow start today (Saturday) but I started going for it and I think that helped me out,” Williams said in an on-court interview.
She will defend her title against Romanian Halep who routed Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-2 in the late semifinal.
Williams was broken early in the opening set, but her opponent could not keep the momentum or capitalize on the American’s eight double-faults for the match.
Williams laced two straight backhand winners to break Svitolina’s serve to move to 3-1 in the second set.
The 20-year-old Ukrainian broke back but Williams responded in kind to take control before sealing the match with an ace.
Halep’s semifinal win secured her the second seeding behind Williams at the U.S. Open. The aggressive base-liner converted seven of 10 break-points and was thrilled with her performance.
“I played great tennis tonight. I was confident and I think that’s why I played my best tennis,” she said.
Sania-Hingis crashes out
Cincinnati, August 23: India’s campaign came to an end at Cincinnati after Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis crashed out with a three-set defeat in the women’s doubles semifinal here Saturday. The top seeded Indo-Swiss duo went down 4-6, 6-0, 6-10 to
the unseeded Chinese Taipei’s sister pair of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan in an hour and 14 minutes.
