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By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, June 3, 2015

 
Serena Williams

Serena Williams slammed 39 winners rolling into her 27th career Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-1, 6-3 rout of Sara Errani.

Photo credit: Getty

Planned rennovations to Roland Garros do not include barricades around the baseline, which is probably what Sara Errani would have required to stall Serena Williams today.

A sharp Serena spent much of today's quarterfinal boxing Errani into obscure areas in an oppressive display of attacking tennis. Playing her most proactive tennis of the tournament, Williams overwhelmed Errani, 6-1, 6-3, in a 66-minute rout to roll into her 27th career Grand Slam semifinal.

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In early rounds, the world No. 1 looked lethargic at times, dropping the opening set in her last three matches. Today, Williams dropped the hammer on Errani raising her record to 9-0 against the former doubles world No. 1.

Rhythmically swinging her right arm to loosen up during the coin toss, Williams whipped 10 aces among 39 winners and spent much of the match surging inside the baseline to take the Italian's topspin shots on the rise.

"I hadn't been able to serve well the first couple of matches because I had hurt my arm in Madrid," Williams told ESPN's Brad Gilbert immediately afterward. "The first few matches I was like 'Let me not serve so big.' It's obviously a big part of my game. I missed it [in prior matches] a lot."

Continuing her quest for a 20th career Grand Slam championship, Williams will play 23rd-seeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky for a trip to her third French Open final. Bacsinszky beat 93rd-ranked Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, 6-4, 7-5. An imperious Williams owns a 23-3 career record in Grand Slam semifinals.

"I just have to play well," Williams told Gilbert afterward. "It doesn't matter who you play, they're gonna come out swinging and I have to be ready for that."

Former French Open finalist Errani must be prepared for punishment whenever she faces the world No. 1.

Eranni can create angles off her topspin forehand and she's quick around the court. But Williams fought past perhaps the fastest woman in the game, Sloane Stephens, in the fourth round and gave the overmatched Italian the runaround from the opening ball today.

Storming forward in the court to take Errani's looping topspin shots out of the air, the top seed broke at love for a 2-0 lead. Errani bolted a backhand pass down the line, breaking back for 1-2.

The serve and return are the two most important shots in tennis and the 19-time Grand Slam champion owns an immense advantage in both areas, which forces the 5-foot-2 Errani to play catch-up from the first ball.

The 2012 Roland Garros doubles champion couldn't keep a swarming Serena from ravaging her serve. Williams broke right back at 30 for 3-1. Running down a drop shot, Errani poked an angled backhand pass for another break point. Williams amped up the aggression, striking three convincing strikes in succession—a backhand crosscourt, 120 mph ace down the middle and a curling backhand winner down the line—dismissing the challenge for a commanding 4-1 advantage.

Sliding an ace down the middle, Williams sealed the 27-minute opening set on the strength of a 14 to 4 edge in winners.

In many of their past meetings, Williams' powering through the first set was often a prelude to a complete demolition in the second set. Credit Errani for warding off discouragement and some devastating shots from her opponent to hang tough. She held for the first time all day to open the second set. Four games later, Errani delivered a rare love hold—her third straight hold of the set—for a 3-2 lead.

In the seventh game, Williams lifted her level, ripped shots with precision and left her opponent reeling. Closing net behind a swing volley, she coaxed a long lob, breaking for 4-3.

"Can I get a ball?" Williams asked the ball kids after missing a first serve. On this day, keeping the ball out of her hand was about the only way to deny the top seed. She slid her 10th aces down the T holding for 5-3.

One of Serena's few mis-steps came when she slapped a point-blank smash into the top of the tape on her third match point. She shook her head at the miss, and shook off the error, converting her fourth match point to return to the final four.


 

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