THE second day of US Open quarter finals saw two grand slam champions proceed to the semi final against one another, with both Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka reigning supreme over their opposition. While Azarenka absolutely dominated against 16th seed Elise Mertens, third seed Williams was tested early by Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova before running out victor in three sets. 

For Williams, it was a hard earned second set that saw her remain in the race against unranked Pironkova to run out the winner 4-6 6-3 6-2 in over two hours on court. With a whopping 20 aces to four and just one double fault, Williams proved why she is the Greatest of All-Time (GOAT) with three consecutive aces to finish the second set and set up momentum heading into the third. While Williams and Pironkova had similar unforced error numbers (24-26), just four of Williams’ came in the final set as the grand slam champion ran away with victory. To Pironkova’s credit, she won 67 per cent of points off her first serve and was just about even with Williams on second serve efficiency (48 per cent versus 47 per cent), certainly no slouch, but suffered against Williams’ huge serve winning just 35 per cent of her return points. 

“A match like today, I just feel like [Pironkova] was serving well, she was hitting winners everywhere,” Williams said in her post-match press conference. “Maybe I wasn’t being aggressive enough. “So I think it’s more or less me adjusting my game in the second set and coming back and just trying to do better.”

“It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish, right?” Williams said. “I just feel like, I’m okay. “I’m ready to play three sets every match if I have to. “It doesn’t matter. “A win is a win.”

Azarenka came out firing against Mertens, coming away with an impressive 6-1 6-0 victory in 73 minutes on her way to a semi finals berth. The Belarusian hit 21 winners and three aces but most importantly forced errors from her Belgian opposition, who tallied 23 unforced errors to go with five double faults, unable to maintain intensity against Azarenka on a mission. Winning off 66 per cent of her first serve and 50 per cent of her second, Azarenka was far more consistent and also came away with six break points from 11 compared to Mertens’ one from four.

“I felt that I made the court really big today, which worked very well,” Azarenka said post-match. “And I’m very happy with my movement today, I felt like there was a lot of pressure on her to make a winner.”

“Can it get any better?” Azarenka said, when asked about the upcoming matchup with Williams. “For me, it can’t. I’m so excited about this. It’s an amazing opportunity to play against a champion, someone who I respect a lot, who is my friend. I’m just so excited for this opportunity and I hope people are excited for this match.”

Azarenka has made the final here at the US Open twice before, and while both times were back in her hey-day over 2012-13, she has found some excellent form in recent weeks winning the Western and Southern Open title and will look to continue that against Williams. But Williams ultimately has more to play for – going for her 24th grand slam title to equal Margaret Court – and leads their head-to-head with a huge 18 wins from 22 prior outings against Azarenka – including both US Open finals against the Belarusian in 2012 and 2013.