World number one Serena Williams cruised to her 26th Grand Slam singles final on Thursday afternoon, dismantling world number four Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-4 in 64 minutes at the 2016 Australian Open. In order to capture her 22nd Grand Slam singles title at Melbourne Park, Williams will have to beat the winner of the semifinal match between Angelique Kerber and Johanna Konta on Saturday evening.
Flawless Opening Set from Williams
Right out of the gate, Williams’ intentions were clear - she had no intentions of hanging with Radwanska from the back of the court; she wanted to get into the forecourt as soon as possible. Breaking straight away in the opening game, the world number one made an emphatic statement of intent, overpowering the world number four from the first point onwards.
From there, she would go on to consolidate the break with some more fierce hitting and all-court craft by finishing the game with a volleyed winner, before breaking once more to mount a 3-0 lead courtesy of a double fault from the Pole. Looking seemingly invincible, Williams continued to overpower Radwanska from all parts of the court, never really giving the fourth seed a look at dictating the point. Moments after getting the double break, the 34-year-old consolidated the early advantage with relative ease before breaking for a third time, and with that, she would go on to serve out the opening set 6-0 in 21 minutes.
Williams Recovers From A Slight Mental Lapse to Serve the Match Out in Style
Serving to begin the opening set, Radwanska gave her supporters something to cheer about as she got on the board thanks to some great serving and rare misfires from Williams. However, that wasn’t enough to stop the world number one’s momentum as Williams responded with a hold of her own, before breaking and consolidating the break to open up a 3-1 lead.
But to Radwanska’s credit, the world number four held her ground, benefiting from some more miscues from Williams to earn herself a hold of serve to close the gap to 3-2. Williams was noticeably having a slight mental lapse midway through the second set as she was making unforced errors she would have never made in the opening set, and the Pole took full advantage. Beginning to impose her game on the world number one, Radwanska would go on to recover the early break and right then and there, the match began to kick into high gear.
Great hitting from both women resulted in some incredible exchanges between the two, with the fourth seed coming out on top to edge her nose in front for the first time in the match. Trailing 3-4, Williams regrouped and responded with a hold of her own, before a tight ninth game went the way of the American, despite Radwanska having multiple chances to close out the game. That break seemed to put the nail into the coffin as Williams served out the match in fine style, holding at love with three aces and a forehand drive volley winner to seal a comprehensive 6-0, 6-4 victory in an hour and four minutes.
The Match By the Numbers
It is no secret that Williams dictated the majority of the match, hitting 42 winners to just 17 unforced errors, where as Radwanska only hit four winners to seven unforced errors. In addition, the world number one served extremely well, hitting eight aces – all coming in the second set – to just one double fault, compared to the fourth seed who hit no aces and had three double faults. Despite making only 63% of her first serves, Williams was very effective behind her first delivery, winning 88% of the points behind it.
Coming into this match, Radwanska knew she had to serve well in order to have any chance of advancing to her second Grand Slam singles final, but won less than 50% of her service points, which is a recipe for disaster against the best player in women’s tennis at the moment. Radwanska did her best to stay in touch with the world number one but all in all, it was a very solid performance from Serena Williams – one that will leave Angelique Kerber and Johanna Konta with many doubts should they make the final.