NEW YORK — For Serena Williams’ first 26 matches this year at major tournaments, no deficit was too daunting, no opponent too troublesome, no victory too far from reach.
She was unbeaten and, seemingly, unbeatable, nearing the first Grand Slam in more than a quarter-century. All Williams needed was two more wins to pull off that rare feat. And yet, against an unseeded and unheralded opponent in the U.S. Open semifinals, she faltered. Her pursuit of history ended, oh so close.
In one of the most significant upsets in the history of tennis, Williams finally found a hole too big to climb out of, losing 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Friday at Flushing Meadows to 43rd-ranked Roberta Vinci of Italy.
“I don’t want to talk about how disappointing it is for me,” Williams said at the start of a briefer-than-usual news conference. “If you have any other questions, I’m open for that.”
Vinci had never before played in a Grand Slam semifinal; Williams owns 21 major titles. In four previous matchups, Vinci had never taken a set off Williams.
“Every so often,” Vinci said, “a miracle happens.”
How little faith did even she have? Vinci said she booked a flight home for Saturday, the day of the final.
But Vinci’s unusual style, full of slices and net rushes and volleying skills she honed while winning a career Grand Slam in doubles, kept Williams off-balance enough to cause problems and prevent the 33-year-old from becoming the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four major tournaments in a calendar year.
As Williams quickly left the scene, hopping in a waiting SUV, her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, was explaining to reporters what he called “a bad day, clearly.”
He said he could tell before the match that something was off.
“She was very slow. There was no movement with her lower body, so she was in bad positions to be aggressive and play her attacking game,” Mouratoglou said. “She couldn’t find it today. You don’t wake up the same way every day. Some days you feel good, other days you don’t feel good. That’s life. Usually she finds a way, and today she did not.”
Williams had been pushed to the limit before — this was her 12th three-setter in a major this season — but had managed to win titles at the Australian Open on hard courts in January, the French Open on clay courts in June, and Wimbledon on grass courts in July. And she had won five matches on the U.S. Open’s hard courts over the past two weeks.
This time, for once, the No. 1-ranked Williams could not pull it out, undone by 40 unforced errors, twice as many as Vinci, including four double-faults. That negated the impact of Williams’ 16 aces, including one at 126 mph.
“I thought she played the best tennis in her career,” Williams said about Vinci. “She played, literally, out of her mind.”
Vinci next faces another Italian making her Grand Slam final debut: 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta, who eliminated No. 2 Simona Halep 6-1, 6-3 in another, if less-unbelievable, surprise.
The men’s final Sunday, in contrast, will be No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 2 Roger Federer in their record-tying 42nd career matchup.
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