Connect with us

Tennis

SERENA WILLIAMS CRUISES INTO SEMI-FINALS IN AUCKLAND

Published

on

Top seed Serena Williams overcame windy conditions to reach the semi-finals of the Auckland Classic on Friday with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Germany’s Laura Siegemund.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner will meet either third seed Amanda Anisimova or Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in the last four.

Williams had little trouble against the 31-year-old German although the gusty breezes at Auckland Tennis Centre played havoc with her ball toss, especially when she was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set.

She saved one break point, a characteristic of the match, in the final game but served an ace to get to match point then sealed it when a Siegemund forehand return went wide while she was under pressure.

“She was an incredibly tricky player,” Williams said of the one hour, 28 minute match. “The conditions definitely didn’t help so … it’s good to get through that.”

Advertisement

Jessica Pegula was the first player to advance to the semi- finals when her opponent Alize Cornet retired in the second set.

The American had raced through the first set 6-0 and was leading 3-2 in the second before the Frenchwoman retired with a leg injury after an hour’s play.

Pegula will meet either crowd favourite Caroline Wozniacki or two-time defending champion Julia Goerges in the semi-finals, with the pair due to play their quarter-final later on Friday.

Wozniacki and Williams are also scheduled to play their doubles semi-final against the Belgian pair of Kirsten Flipkens and Alison Van Uytvanck in the evening session.

-Reuters

Advertisement

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

Continue Reading
Advertisement