After a long fight, adjusting to the wind, Justine pulled through to the Semi-Finals yesterday against Serena Williams. Remember that the last time they played was was Roland Garros in the Quarter-finals and Justine won that singlehandedly but this time is a different story.
The match started like everyone anticipated. The first point itself started out very well where Serena and Justine played a long rally point. All of Serena’s serves were at 120 mph but Justine made sure that points were played and played well. Justine was able to break Serena midway through the first set to win it 6-4.
In the second set, Justine continued to play her game while Serena seemed to be confused by what was going on because the wind was starting to become gusty and it forced both women to adjust to the weather. Not only did Serena have trouble, but so did Justine. With the wind, the two women traded breaks until Serena finally hung onto her service game after Justine broke. Serena was able to hang onto the service game and won the second set 6-3.
Onward way third set! Justine did not only adjust to the weather but she also took on more aggression. Serena was unable to handle the wind and not only that, was unable to hold onto her service as Justine was able to track down every single ball Serena gave Justine. Justine took a big lead at 5-1 until some mishits and unforced errors got to Justine but she found her focus again and found herself again before Serena can come back as Jusitne won the third set 6-3.
This match score 6-4 3-6 6-3 and time of match was One hour and 45 minutes.
“It was mentally a very difficult match.”[quoted by Justine]
Well any match against Serena is hard. We have to give credit to her as well because it seemed as though Serena had losts of parts taped up and it’s not only the calf that she heavily taped but also the right hand and left ankle . She claims that she sprained her thumb in the last match and wasn’t able to hit backhand. Though it sort of amazes me how she didn’t seem to be injured at all because she was able to move and to hit backhands.
Justine’s next match is against Marion Bartoli, the surprise underdog who took out Jelena Jankovic in the early stages of the tournament. Justine’s played Marion twice before this tournament and the last meeting was at Eastbourne where she won in straight sets 6-1 6-3. Let’s hope for a similar score this time from Justine!
Allez Justine!
