Serena Williams’ 24th Grand Slam singles title pursuit came to a stunning end after Victoria Azarenka defeated her in the semi-finals of the US Open in the early hours of Friday morning.
Belarusian Victoria Azarenka stunned her 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the semi-finals. Azarenka will now play the Japanese on Saturday in her third final at Flushing Meadows, having lost the previous two to Williams in 2012 and 2013.
Azarenkathe in an on-court interview said her mental game had been crucial in beating the 38-year-old Williams, who needed a medical timeout to have her left ankle re-taped in the third set due to Achilles trouble.
“I have been working on finding a calm mind and keep the body going. She dug me in a big hole in the first set. I needed to find energy to climb out of the hole and it wasn’t easy.”
According to Williams, who has been stuck on 23 Grand Slam titles since winning the 2017 Australian Open, the defeat was “obviously disappointing”.
“At the same time … I did what I could today,” she added.
“I feel like other times I’ve been close and I could have done better. Today I felt like I gave a lot.”
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