Venus Williams has reached her second Australian Open women’s singles final – 14 years apart.
Williams, a seven-time grand slam winner, five times at Wimbledon and twice at the US Open, gets the chance at the age of 36 to secure one of the missing pieces in her career jigsaw puzzle.
Williams out-lasted the 11 years her younger American compatriot Coco Vandeweghe 6-7 6-2 6-3 in an absorbing semi final at Rod Laver Arena on Australia Day.
The 13th seeded Williams was made to work from the first point to last, fighting back from a set down to reach her first grand slam final since Wimbledon in 2009.
“That moment was just joy,” Williams said of her post-game celebration where she did a double twirl for the crowd.
“If the match is 6-2, 6-2, you know, the moment is kind of clear that it’s going to happen. But she played so well. There was never a moment where she wasn’t just hitting the ball amazing and striking the ball with just such precision. It’s always very satisfying to be able to get through in such a big match against an opponent who was just on fire.”
Vandeweghe is one of the up-and-coming youngers in world tennis.
The 25-year-old’s best finish to a tournament was the quarter finals at Wimbledon last year.
But with the more experience she gets, Vandeweghe could be an ever-present at the pointy end of tournaments.
While it will be no consolation right now, the experience of a semi-final against one of the all-time greats will be a valuable reference point for Vandeweghe.
However, Vandeweghe will view this match as a missed opportunity.
“Probably straight after the match I was pretty upset,” Vandeweghe said. “I had a feel-sorry-for myself moment. But what made me feel a lot better was when my team came over when I was in the gym sitting by myself, they came over, gave me a big hug. Each and every one of them told me how proud they were of how I competed out there and everything like that. So that kind of picked me up and made the situation feel a lot better. But I was very disappointed and upset.”
Williams used all her experience to seize on the big moments and gain the breaks in the second and third sets to end Vandeweghe’s gallant run.
Williams converted five out of nine break points opportunities, while Vandeweghe had just one from 13 chances.
It will be a sister act in the women’s singles final.
Serena Williams has joined older sister Venus in the big dance after 6-2 6-1 win over Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Serena’s match was a little more cut and dried, completing her mission in just 50 minutes.
“I felt like it was in my hands to force this Williams final,” Serena said after hearing of Venus’ result. “Believe it or not, I was feeling a little pressure about that, but it felt really good to get that win.”
