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After a difficult season by her record-breaking standards, a statement win was arguably just what Serena Williams required.
Helped by a brief weather interruption, a calming chat with her coach and calling on her most powerful weapons, the world No.1 achieved exactly that as she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-0 to move into the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 12th time in her 17 appearances.
The clock showed Williams as an efficient winner in 76 minutes but not everything ticked along smoothly for the defending champion. A winner of their quarter-final match in Miami, Kuznetsova is one of several players to deny Williams an important victory in 2016 (she also lost in the Australian Open final to Angelique Kerber and at the same stage of the French Open to Garbiñe Muguruza) and for a brief time it seemed their fourth round match could go a similar way.
When Williams broke for a 3-1 lead in the first set, Kuznetsova dug in for the epic fifth game, which went to five deuces before the dogged Russian gained the break back. Hitting with typical determination, Kuznetsova pushed Williams out of position on several occasions and with another break in the ninth game, the No.13 seed served for the first set.
With a 22nd Grand Slam and seventh Wimbledon title in sight, the world No.1 was hardly panicking. She pressured Kuznetsova into a series of errors, the tension further showing in a double fault. Another break of serve levelled the score at 5-5, and then weather intervened.
The interruption created by a light shower allowed both players time to chat with their respective coaches, but it was Williams who capitalised. “I had a little time to think about it and just calm down, really just relax,” said Serena, crediting the calming guidance of Patrick Mouratoglou. “I talked to Patrick. He gave me some tips on what I could do. I just was able to do that.”
While understandably reluctant to reveal details, the rapid finish highlighted Mouratoglou’s influence. “He's just so sang froid all the time,” Williams added. “I think that really helps me. It helps me realise that when I'm calm, I usually can find answers and I can usually come through in big matches that I want to.”
The passion and the intensity that I have is what makes me Serena
Such answers typically lay in Williams’ power, as she showed in the dominant way she overcame Kuznetsova when the roof was closed after the weather interruption. Serving with her typical authority and adding impressively to her winner count (Serena had 14 aces, 43 winners and just 14 errors by the end of the match), she galloped away with every game on resumption. “I felt like I was really dialled in, focused today,” said Williams.
As a quarter-final with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova looms, Williams will be relying as much on her professionalism as she does on her power. “She's a really good player, you know. We've had some tough matches in the past. I just know that, going into that match, I definitely need to be ready,” she said.
Williams has a 5-0 head-to-head record against the Russian, but if there is one thing she has learned this season, it’s that she should take nothing for granted as she seeks a second successive win against a Russian opponent. “I've lost to players who have never beaten me in the past in some big situations,” she said. “I definitely don't want that to happen.”
“It's no secret, I'm a very intense player. I'm so passionate at my job,” Williams said. “This is what I do, and I love what I do. I wake up since I was three years old to do this. These are the moments that I live for. The passion and the intensity that I have is what makes me Serena. I can't change, nor would I ever want to be different.”
