Serena Williams’ dream of winning all four Grand Slam titles in the same year is still alive despite her looking all but out on her feet in Thursday’s French Open semifinals.
Playing on the hottest day of the tournament so far, the 33-year-old American superstar struggled badly with her physical condition throughout a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Swiss surprise Timea Bacsinszky.
Walking slowly between points and looking thoroughly miserable, it was the fourth time in this tournament that she has had to battle back from the loss of the first set.
Slam dream is on But her fighting spirit came through in the end and now only Lucie Safarova, the Czech 13th seed, stands between her and reaching the halfway stage of a calendar-year Grand Slam.
It would also leave her with 20 Grand Slam titles, just two shy of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 24.
Safarova, at 28, reached her first Grand Slam final after 12 years of trying, following her run into the Wimbledon semifinals last year.
She defeated the 2008 Roland Garros winner Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 7-5 in a nervy, mistake-ridden encounter which preceded the Williams match.
A late blossomer, whose nice-girl reputation belies a steely determination, Safarova would be best advised not to look too closely at the record books as she has a dismal 0-8 losing record against the top seed and two-time former champion in Paris.
In her favour might be exactly what condition Williams will be in when they both get to Saturday afternoon’s final.
Against Bacsinszky, the 23rd seed who had battled against all the odds to reach her first Grand Slam final at the age of 26, Williams started strongly. But Bacsinszky wasn’t intimidated and broke for 3-2 with a searing crosscourt backhand off a Williams’s second serve.
Williams, who went into the tie having lost just three of her 26 Grand Slam semifinals, was clearly suffering in the 29-degree heat. Her breathing was laboured, she wearily demanded more and more ice-towels during changeovers and was looking increasingly disorientated.
The blonde Swiss outsider had nothing to lose and played like it. She saw two set points disappear and then face down a break point in the 10th game but wrapped up the opener when Williams overhit an easy forehand drive.
Williams fought off five break points in the fifth game of the second set but was broken when she fired a desperate backhand wide.
At the changeover, Williams’s coughing spurts became so loud that they echoed around the arena courtesy of the courtside microphones.
But somehow she dug deep, retrieved the break and then raced away with the second set having won four straight games.
Rejuvenated, the top seed broke for 1-0 in the decider, backed it up with a double break for 3-0 and again for 5-0 as Bacsinszky wilted.
Slow start Earlier, Safarova lost the first three games of the contest against Ivanovic and was 5-2 down at one point before rattling off five games in a row.
She continued to dominate an erratic Ivanovic in the second, but three double faults had her shaking her head at 5-4 before she made sure on her next serve to set up the biggest match of her career.
