Seed: 1
Ranking: 1
Grand Slams: 3
2001 US Open performance: Finalist (losing to Venus Williams)
Best US Open performance: Winner (1999)
Surprisingly, of the four semi-finalists, Serena has accumulated the least impressive results over the American hardcourt season. But that isn’t to say she is undeserving of her place with the others – in fact, quite on the contrary. Since her loss in the Berlin finals, Serena has posted a 21 match-winning streak which has included the championships at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and has solidified her place as the world’s #1 player. In fact, losing early in her lone warm-up event was perhaps a bi-result of the hard work and tough matches she has gone through in Europe.
Her start to the tournament was rather lacklustre, with a fairly ordinary performance against Corina Morariu in the first round. Since that match, Serena has looked nothing short of the #1 player. Her intensity, her aggression and her dominance has been absolutely overwhelming since her first round match and her opponents have been able to put up nothing more than resignation at times. Daja Bedanova tried her best in the fourth round by taking the challenge up to Serena by sticking to a serve-volley game. It didn’t work. Daniela Hantuchova tried outserving and outpowering Williams in the quarter finals. Williams was just too solid and too strong on the key moments.
Is there absolutely anything anyone can do to stop the Serena Williams juggernaut? She faces her stiffest challenges against the remaining players in the draw who perhaps are the only ones who can offer some resistance to her outright accuracy and aggression. However on current form, it would not be surprising if she dominated these players as comprehensively as she has the others in her path.
