Venus Williams vs Francesca Schiavone – US Open quarter-final preview
Venus Williams takes on Francesca Schiavone in a quarter-final battle of the veterans at the US Open, and it’s a match Williams should be quietly confident of winning.
The reason is simple: in seven previous matches against the French Open champion, including two in 2010 (at the Australian Open and Madrid) Williams remains undefeated.
The third seed already proved how much that sort of ascendency against an opponent can mean as she maintained her perfect record (now 6-0) against Israel’s Shahar Peer in her fourth-round match to set up the clash with Schiavone.
In one sense, Venus will surely be happy just to be among the contenders in the second week in Flushing Meadows, having arrived at the US Open without having played a competitive match since her quarter-final loss at Wimbledon after spraining her knee during the summer.
Now the former world No. 1 has arrived in the quarter-finals though, you can bet she’s eying off the US Open silverware that she last held aloft back in 2001 (Venus also won the title in 2000).
“When the tournament started it was a little, you know, uncertain on how I would hit the ball in a match,” Venus said.
“It's just very exciting to obviously be here and hitting well and getting the games on my side, so that's what I want to continue. You know, I haven't played as much as the other players, but still I'm getting the win, so that's what's important.”
Speaking on her quarter-final opponent, Venus said: “Definitely two of us going after it and trying to take that spot in the semifinals. But I'm hoping that my experience will help me, just like it did today, where I've had my opponent in some tough situations and still able to win.
“Obviously her game is better than ever now. Seems like everybody is hitting their stride at 30.”
That’s certainly true of Schiavone, who became a Grand Slam champion for the first time in her career at this year’s French Open, in the same month she celebrated her 30th birthday. Whether the same can be said of the also 30-year-old Venus is a little more dubious. It’s true the world No. 4 can claim longevity near the top of the rankings, but her last major title was now more than two years ago, at Wimbledon in 2008.
History shows that now Williams has left her 20s behind too, winning Grand Slams is going to become a lot more difficult, with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert the only two women to add multiple majors to their collections after hitting the 30.
While Venus has always traded on her athleticism and power, Schiavone is more of an old-school master of court-craft. A rare proponent of the single-handed backhand on the women’s tour, in her own words the Italian, after her fourth round win, described her game thus: “I can do serve and volley, I can play faster, I can play slow and back. Is a mix. It's like Capricciosa pizza. I don't give you margherita, I give you Capricciosa, different kind of ingredient.”
After beginning the tournament with a first serve percentage below the 50 per cent mark in her opening two matches, Schiavone lifted that to 57% in her third and fourth-round matches. The sixth seed will need it to remain at at least that level if she’s to take a maiden career victory over Williams.
Having demonstrated her tactical prowess at the French Open, expect to see Schiavone attempt to test Venus’ knee as she mixes things up in a quarter-final match between two of tennis’ most experienced campaigners.
Prediction: It’s hard to look past Venus’ dominance of Schiavone in their past matches, although their two meetings this year did go to three sets. Williams to win in three.
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