By Erik Gudris | Saturday, February 13, 2021
Serena Williams withstood a powerful onslaught from Aryna Sabalenka to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals for the 13th time.
Photo credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty
Serena Williams and Aryna Sabalenka filled the empty stands of Rod Laver Arena with thunderous shots and lung-busting vocals in their anticipated first-ever meeting in the Australian Open fourth round.
In the end, it was the 23-time major champion Williams who finds herself yet again in the last eight in Melbourne.
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The 10th-seeded Williams secured a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over Sabalenka. With that result, Williams posted her 53rd career appearance in a major quarterfinal, tying Chris Evert’s record.
Williams found herself toe to toe with the 22-year Belarusian until the final point of the match. Williams later said she was thrilled with the result.
“I am happy to get through that one. It wasn’t easy and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Williams said in her post-match interview. “She was teeing off on every shot and I felt like I was there, there were some shots I was missing but I was saying ‘Oh I can do it’.
"Even the games I lost were super close. One shot here and one shot there and I was just like ‘Serena you got this. You just gotta keep going.”
The seventh-seeded Sabalenka entered the match as one of the hottest players on the WTA tour from late last year. Starting last October, Sabalenka won three tour titles and enjoyed at one point a 15-match win streak. Yet Sabalenka, who has said Williams is her idol, was trying to make her own career history by reaching her first ever major quarterfinal.
Serving would be a critical factor for both women and their chances in the match. That proved true right from the start as the first set became a serving battle early on. Sabalenka often hit her second serves just as big as her first serve. As expected, the baseline rallies featured massive hitting from each as they tried to find weaknesses, especially on each other’s forehand sides.
Late in the set at 5-4, Williams’ movement and defense proved vital. She chased down several Sabalenka shots to win an exhausting rally for 0-30 lead on the Belarusian. Soon, Willams secured the set 6-4 after Sabalenka committed a forehand error.
The second set saw the momentum swing in favor of Sabalenka as Williams began struggling with her first serve. Sabalenka broke Williams to start the set and then held for a 2-0 lead. She then consolidated that advantage by breaking Williams again for 3-0.
At one stage in the set, Williams’ first serve percentage dropped to just 20 percent. Williams managed to get one of the breaks back. But her serving woes continued as Sabalenka reasserted herself in the set with powerful hitting, especially from her favored backhand wing.
Sabalenka eventually served out the set 6-2 to force the decisive final set.
With Williams struggling, the question remained if Sabalenka could keep up the mental focus needed to stay with Williams and possibly close out the victory. For Williams, she needed to start serving better to stay in touch with Sabalenka.
Williams did just that as she enjoyed easier holds early in the final set. Sabalenka was now the one fighting to get her first serve in. In the fourth game, Williams managed to break Sabalenka after she dumped a forehand into the net.
From there, Williams soon opened up a 4-1 lead and looked poised to close out the match quickly. Yet Sabalenka fought her way back to 4-all after Williams was unable to maintain her serve advantage.
With the match getting tighter, both women began raising their vocal levels with huge screams after each winning point. Williams let out a massive yell after she earned a pivotal service hold for 5-4.
Sabalenka’s serve didn’t help her down the stretch. She threw in a costly double fault to give Williams a 15-30 lead. Williams jumped on the opportunity to close out the match perhaps then and soon held two match points. Sabalenka eventually hit a final forehand well long, giving Williams the hard-fought three-set win.
This is Williams’s first victory over a Top 10 player since 2019 when she beat Elina Svitolina in the US Open semifinals.
The 39-year-old Williams, who is still on the hunt for her 24th major title to tie Margaret Court’s record, now awaits the winner between two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep and Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek.