The 23-time Grand Slam champion is keeping her farewell tour alive.
Serena Williams lives to compete in another professional singles tennis match after upsetting No. 2 Anett Kontaveit 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–2 on Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The GOAT announced her retirement, or “evolution” from tennis, prior to playing in this year’s U.S. Open. Williams started by winning her first round match against Danka Kovinić, taking it 6–3, 6–3.
The 40-year-old will face Australian Ajla Tomljanović in the third round on Friday.
Williams came out dazzling on the court again, and the stars came out to see her play at her last U.S. Open. Golf legend Tiger Woods even sat in her player’s box.
It was a back and forth battle in the first set. While tied at 3–3, it took 20 points for Kontaveit to take the game, and Williams was close to breaking. Both players broke each other once, leading the set into a tiebreak, where Williams hit multiple winners to earn her the first set.
Williams got off to a rough start in the second set as she dropped the first three games, two of which she was serving. In the fifth game, the 40-year-old was up 40–0, and then ended up losing it in a tiebreak. Kontaveit looked to have regained momentum as she won 6–2.
But the six-time U.S. Open champion wasn’t backing down. She came out with a 2–0 lead in Set 3 and led 40–0 in the third game, but ended up losing.
Williams quickly turned it around by breaking Kontaveit in the next game. Then, in her own service game, she took control by winning every point. She dominated by finishing the set 6–2 and advancing to the third round.
Now fans wonder if Williams could make an unimaginable run and capture her 24th Grand Slam title. While she holds the record for most Grand Slams in the Open Era, Margaret Court holds the all-time record at 24. This could be Williams’s chance to tie the record.
Williams hasn’t won a major tournament since the 2017 Australian Open, where she won while pregnant with her daughter Olympia.
Williams won’t get much rest before her third-round match, though. She will take the court with her older sister, Venus, on Thursday night in a doubles match before her third-round singles match on Friday. The duo has 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together.
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