Serena Williams: Racing to the finish

Annihilation. Obliteration.

If you want to know these words in terms of tennis, you should definitely watch Serena Williams – a Serena who is in the second week of a Grand Slam and is raring to go – both physically and mentally. Just last week there was the thundering news of Serena tumbling down and hurting her ankle in her first round match at the Australian Open. The medical timeout that she took sent waves of concern to all quarters of the tennis community. But Serena just rambled to victory, crushing Edina Gallovits-Hall.

If there was still any doubt about Serena’s further participation in the tournament, she simply quashed them by this superb quote “I’m alive. My heart’s beating. I’ll be fine.” That Serena will be ‘fine’ spells doom for her opponents, and so it was!

She sailed into the fourth round at Melbourne Park losing just six games, dispatching opponents as easily as tossing pancakes in a pan. Standing on the opposite side of the net in her fourth round encounter was Maria Kirilenko, her first seeded opponent who herself was coming off the best season of her career. Having captured two titles last year and reached her career best ranking of 12, the fourteenth seed was bubbling with confidence in a Slam where she had once famously handed her friend Maria Sharapova an ignominious first round defeat.

The first three points played under breezy conditions at the Rod Laver Arena on Monday exhibited the fact that Maria Kirilenko was an accomplished doubles player. Known for her intelligent point construction, Kirilenko showed her prowess and mixed it up with great returns and wonderful lobs that had Serena scrambling and staring at three break points down. Were we in for another unforgettable night after Super Sunday when Melbourne Park reverberated with one of the best matches of the year played by Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka?

Well, this was Serena who is the best in a Slam second week and expect her to put all doubts to rest. A feisty forehand, a neat volley and two aces which come at Serena’s beck and call later, Kirilenko’s chances became history! And that would remain till the end as the closest she came to breaking an emphatic and imperious Serena Williams.

It all so resembles the sweet summer of 2003 when Serena completed her very own Grand Slam called the Serena Slam. Ten years have come and gone, a generation of opponents have retired, unretired and re-retired themselves but she remains the rock! Even a slew of injuries and major illnesses have not been able to make a dent into that insatiable desire to shine and conquer more glory.

Even the nadir in terms of her Grand Slam performances, which came last year at the French Open when she made a shocking first round exit, has not been able to derail Serena Williams. She backed it up with her fifth Wimbledon crown, first singles gold and third doubles gold at the London Olympics, fourth US Open crown and third Year-Ending Championships!

Coming into the first Slam of the year in 2013, fresh off a Brisbane triumph, only a lunatic would bet against a woman who, by entering the fourth round, had won 38 of her last 39 matches! Serena made sure she just didn’t want the streak to end there on Monday.

If the first game had shown the potential of her opponent, Serena ensured that Kirilenko is not given another chance to unsettle her for the rest of the match. Attacking, coming in nicely, taking the ball on the rise, the third seed hardly gave Kirilenko any space to breathe. The fourteenth seed’s service faltered in the face of tremendous returns which went deep.

Serena broke her to surge to a 3-1 lead and it was a matter of time before the Russian surrendered another service break to gift the first set 2-6 to the five-time Australian Open champion. And the smacking stats said it all at the end of the first set! Serena had a rollicking 95% of first serves in!

From then on, Serena was just a picture of calm intensity. Opening the second set, she showed her delicate touch at the net to inch ahead and then with a stunning forehand crosscourt, she broke Kirilenko’s serve and pretty much her morale.

As the set rolled on, Kirilenko appeared more and more toothless to deal with Serena’s deadly fangs. The only time she came close in the second set was when she could force a deuce on Serena’s serve but haplessly failed to make any inroads into the champion’s game and her mentality as she soon raced to a 4-0 lead. With Maria’s backhand finding the net, Serena wrapped it up at 6-0 in 57 minutes and marched into her 35th career Grand Slam quarter-final.

This is Serena’s familiar ground and she is totally motivated. The last few days of a Slam are when she lifts her game even further and that should send danger signals to the other seven women last standing.