2019 US Open Day 11: Serena Williams advances to final with commanding win

Serena Williams is one win away from Grand Slam title No. 24.

The No. 8-ranked veteran swiftly defeated current world No. 5 Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-1 in the first of two women’s semifinal matches Thursday evening in Flushing, New York.

The match began as a relative battle, with the first two games taking 16 minutes – although Williams won both. After Williams went up 3-0, Svitolina began to fight back, making it 5-3 before Williams closed out the first set.

Williams was simply dominant in the second set. She jumped out to a 5-1 lead and took two tries to convert match point on a backhand down the line. Overall, she captivated the star-studded crowd with 33 winners and just 20 unforced errors, firing off six aces.

It was an entirely different story for Svitolina – who was playing in her second-straight major semifinal – as she went 0-for-6 in break point conversions and hit just 11 winners to 17 unforced errors.

The win was No. 101 at the U.S. Open for Williams, tying Chris Evert’s record. She’ll look to take sole possession of that mark Saturday night, as well as tie for the most Grand Slam titles in history, when she returns to the court where she and Naomi Osaka faced off in a controversial final a year ago.

Williams will face 19-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu in Saturday’s final. Andreescu defeated Belinda Bencic 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 in their semifinal match.

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