23-Grand Slam winner Serena Williams has continued to enjoy a good run in her supposed final tournament at the 2022 US Open as she has made it into the third round.
The American tennis superstar, who is yet to categorically say she was leaving the sport after the competition, had earlier given the impression she would be ‘evolving away’ from tennis to face other things in life.
The 40-year-old defeated second seed Anett Kontaveit on another remarkable night at the US Open.
Serena Williams, ranked 413th in the world, won 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-2 to stun the Estonian in New York.
When the players met at the net for the coin toss and pre-match photos, Kontaveit looked over at Williams with a smile. Williams glanced back straight-faced.
The match began with Kontaveit grabbing the first five points, Williams the next five. And on they went, back and forth.
Kontaveit’s mistakes were cheered — even faults, drawing an admonishment for the crowd from chair umpire Alison Hughes about making noise between serves.
Williams broke for a 5-4 edge when Kontaveit pushed a backhand long, spurring yelling spectators to rise to their feet — and Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, jumped right in, too, waving his arms in her direction, a few rows in front of where Venus and Tiger Woods were two seats apart.
But with a chance to serve out that set, Williams briefly lost her way. A missed forehand. A backhand long. A backhand into the net as she went down on one knee. A double-fault made it 5-all.
Eventually they went to a tiebreaker, and at 3-3, a chant of “Let’s go, Serena!” broke out, accompanied by rhythmic clapping.
In the third, it was Williams who gained the upper hand, and it seemed every point she won elicited an enthusiastic response.
One game, and five minutes later, it was over — and her stay at the U.S. Open could proceed.
“There’s still a little left in me,” Williams said with a smile during her on-court interview.
“This is what I do best. I love a challenge and I’m rising to the challenge.”
After beating 80th-ranked Danka Kovinic in straight sets Monday, then collecting her 23rd victory in her past 25 matches against someone ranked No. 1 or No. 2 against Kontaveit on Wednesday, the six-time champion at Flushing Meadows will play Friday for a spot in the fourth round.
Her opponent will be Ajla Tomljanovic, a 29-year-old Australian who is ranked 46th. They’ve never met.
Asked how she’s doing it so far, Williams replied with a hearty laugh: “Well, I’m a pretty good player.”
“I’m just Serena. After I lost the second set, I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I better give my best effort because this could be it,'” Williams said, surely echoing the thoughts of every one of the people paying any attention.
“I’m super competitive. Honestly, I’m just looking at it as a bonus. I don’t have anything to prove,” she said, which certainly is true. “I never get to play like this — since ’98, really. Literally, I’ve had an ‘X’ on my back since ’99,” the year she claimed her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open at age 17.