Roberta Vinci Ends Serena Williams’s Grand Slam Bid at U.S. Open

Robert

Roberta Vinci's victory was her first against Serena Williams in five attempts.
The Grand Slam seemed there for the taking. The Grand Slam will have to wait.
Two victories from joining the most prestigious club in tennis and with her path clear of all the most evident thorns and threats, Serena Williams ran into an unlikely roadblock in the form of Roberta Vinci.
In one of the biggest surprises in tennis history, Vinci, an unseeded Italian veteran playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, defeated Williams, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, at the United States Open on Friday.
“The best moment of my life,” said Vinci, who embraced the occasion thoroughly, cupping her hand to her ear and exhorting the crowd after winning a spectacular rally, and crying in her chair after the upset.
Vinci, who had never won a set against Williams in four previous matches, also apologized.
“For the American people, for Serena, for the Grand Slam and everything,” she said. “But today is my day. Sorry, guys.”

Instead of the 33-year-old Williams playing for the Grand Slam in the final on Saturday, it will be 33-year-old Flavia Pennetta facing Vinci, 32, in an all-Italian match that will also feature the oldest players in a women’s major final — in terms of combined age The Grand Slam seemed there for the taking. The Grand Slam will have to wait.
Two victories from joining the most prestigious club in tennis and with her path clear of all the most evident thorns and threats, Serena Williams ran into an unlikely roadblock in the form of Roberta Vinci.
In one of the biggest surprises in tennis history, Vinci, an unseeded Italian veteran playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, defeated Williams, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, at the United States Open on Friday.
“The best moment of my life,” said Vinci, who embraced the occasion thoroughly, cupping her hand to her ear and exhorting the crowd after winning a spectacular rally, and crying in her chair after the upset.
Vinci, who had never won a set against Williams in four previous matches, also apologized.
“For the American people, for Serena, for the Grand Slam and everything,” she said. “But today is my day. Sorry, guys.”— in the Open era.

Pennetta, the No. 26 seed, overwhelmed Simona Halep, the No. 2 seed, in the day’s first semifinal, 6-1, 6-3. That upset put Pennetta into her first Grand Slam singles final, but it was just a ripple in the Open fishbowl compared with the cannonball that Vinci stylishly landed later in the afternoon.
“I think this is the biggest upset we’ve ever seen in women’s tennis,” said Rennae Stubbs, the analyst and former Australian doubles star who knows Williams well.
Williams has certainly been stunned before, losing in the first round of the 2012 French Open to the French wild card Virginie Razzano.
But Friday’s upset came late in the tournament, when Williams — who has won 21 Grand Slam singles titles — typically has unstoppable momentum. Friday’s upset also came with a wider global audience paying attention, drawn in by her quest.
“She lost to the Grand Slam more than anything else,” said Martina Navratilova, who knows the pursuit well. “But still, Vinci had to finish it off.”
The last player to complete the Grand Slam, winning all four major singles titles in the same calendar year, was Steffi Graf in 1988. Williams had put herself within exceptionally close range by making great escape after great escape this year, winning the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon and her first five matches at Flushing Meadows.
Along the way, she had won all 11 of her three-set matches in the majors, shrugging and snarling off illness, edginess and all manner of challengers, from longtime rivals like Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open as well as unexpected threats like Heather Watson at Wimbledon.
But chasing the Grand Slam is one of the great burdens in sports. Graf said she felt much more relief than joy when she completed it in New York at age 19 and was exhausted emotionally in the aftermath. Williams, at 33, was fully aware of how precious a late-career opportunity this was.

Serena Williams falls during the third set of her match against Roberta Vinci.

Perhaps too aware. Not that Williams was prepared to concede that point.
“No; I told you guys I don’t feel pressure,” Williams said afterward. “I never felt pressure.”
In a news conference long on short answers, Williams rebuffed attempts to plumb the depths of her disappointment. “I don’t want to talk about how disappointing it is for me,” she said. “If you have any other questions, I’m open for that.”
She was most expansive about Vinci. “She’s going for it at a late stage,” Williams said. “So that’s good for her to keep going for it and playing so well. Actually, I guess it’s inspiring. But, yeah, I think she played literally out of her mind.”
From start to finish, Vinci seemed a great deal saner than that. A clever tactician, her shifts of rhythm and crisply sliced one-handed backhand made it difficult at times for Williams to generate her trademark pace and depth. Players with similar tools — Justine Henin and Emilie Loit — have caused Williams trouble in the past.
“You have to create the pace on it,” said the former Open champion Tracy Austin of the low-bouncing slice. “If you’re tight, that’s a difficult recipe.”
But Vinci had never won more than four games in a set against Williams in their previous matches and has struggled for much of the season, falling from a career-high ranking of 11 to 43. In Toronto last month, Williams defeated her, 6-4, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.
It was thus hard to avoid the conclusion that the essential duel on Friday was Williams against herself.
Williams did win more points on Friday: 93 to 85. But she did not secure those that mattered most in the third set, which had been her happy hunting ground all year — and not just in Grand Slam tournaments. Her overall record in three-set matches was 18-1 this season coming into the Open.
Williams smashed her racket in frustration as she sat down in her chair after losing the second set, receiving a code violation for racket abuse from the chair umpire. But when Williams jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the third set, it looked as if this would be risky business as usual.
Instead, she double-faulted to lose her serve in the next game, looking on edge throughout, and then double-faulted twice more in the seventh game to lose it again.
Vinci then led by 4-3 and soon served for the match at 5-4. She would not lose a point, as the game went like this:
■ Williams return in the tape off a second serve: 15-0.
■ Vinci backhand half volley winner: 30-0.
■ Williams backhand volley error in the net: 40-0.
And then came match point and another second serve, which would normally have been a good omen for Williams, but not on Friday. Vinci parried her big return and soon slapped a forehand approach shot and, moving freely, rushed forward.
Williams’s passing shot landed at Vinci’s feet, and Vinci finished off the ambush with brio: a forehand half volley winner into the open court that left Vinci overwhelmed and in need of a flight change.
The Grand Slam will have to wait, but the first all-Italian women’s final in Grand Slam history will not.