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Serena Williams dominates Wang Qiang to reach US Open semifinals

There was no stopping Serena Williams on Tuesday. The 23-time Grand Slam champion has reached the US Open semifinals, overwhelming No. 18 Wang Qiang of China, 6...
Serena Williams

There was no stopping Serena Williams on Tuesday.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion has reached the US Open semifinals, overwhelming No. 18 Wang Qiang of China, 6-1, 6-0 in 44 minutes. That ties with Simona Halep’s third-round victory against Viktoria Kuzmova in Madrid for the shortest WTA match this year.

This is Williams’ 100th victory at the US Open. She trails just Chris Evert, who has 101, for the most in US Open history.

“I never thought that I would get to 100,” Williams said in her interview on court. “It didn’t cross my mind I would still be out here. I love what I do. I love coming out with you guys. It’s so special. I never want to let it go.”

How lopsided was this? Williams won 90% of her first serve points, won all five of her break point chances and had 25 winners to 10 unforced errors. Wang, meanwhile, didn’t have a single winner in the match.

“The power, like, I cannot handle it,” Wang said of Williams. “Just too much for me.”

Williams’ performance also likely ends any lingering doubts about her ankle, which she rolled in her win in the round of 16 against Petra Martic.

“Honestly, it’s good,” her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, told ESPN before Williams went on to dominate. “We didn’t expect that. She had a lot of treatment, and she’s fine. She doesn’t feel pain, and she can move. So it’s not going to be an issue.”

Said Williams: “Physically, I’m feeling great. More than anything, I’m just having fun every time I come out here.”

Safe to say many will believe that after seeing Tuesday’s results.

Williams, seeded and ranked eighth, is the only one left in the women’s singles draw who has won a major title. She’ll face No. 5 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who is in her second major semifinal this year.

The 37-year-old American is trying to win her first major since the 2017 Australian Open, when she was pregnant. Her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, turned 2 years old on Sunday. Should Williams win the US Open this weekend, she would tie Margaret Court for the most grand slam singles titles of all time.

A six-time US Open champion, Williams has been runner-up three times, including last year in the final against Naomi Osaka, when Williams clashed with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, culminating when he docked her a game for calling him a “thief.”

Williams last won the US Open in 2014.

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