After 3 hours and 13 minutes of logical tennis, twenty breaks, twenty-three double faults and 267 points played, Venus Williams overcomes Jelena Ostapenko and keeps alive her hopes of reaching her fifth semifinal at the WTA Finals. It is the longest match of the American’s career, at 37 years and 4 months.Given the quality of what we saw on the pitch, perhaps the one-sided matches of the first two days were better, with the Pliskova-Muguruza-Halep-Wozniacki quartet scoring without difficulty. But the news is that the WTA Finals in Singapore have finally lit up, with the first real battle, in full women’s style, with 3 hours and 13 minutes of chaos, almost impossible to decipher until the winning match point. Smiling is Venus Williamswho returned to the Masters after a 9-year absence and keeps alive the hope of reaching the semi-final, while it was Jelena Ostapenko’s turn to leave the court with her head down, beaten 7-5 6-7 7-5 and betrayed by the same tennis that allowed her to play it all the way. The twenty-year-old from Riga is like this: she can perform miracles in Roland Garros style, but also make mistake after mistake. She wins three games in a row without letting her opponent touch the ball, then loses three in a row just because of her. Characteristics that mixed with a roller-coaster Venus, more difficult than ever on serve but with admirable determination, produced a match that is also difficult to talk about, because she would risk repeating the same things over and over again. The statistics say a lot, they show something and what 20 breaks in 36 rounds of service, twenty-three double faults, two poor second serves and 267 total points, and above all they also give a clear clue as to why the success fell in Williams’ half of the field, capable of winning an extra fifteen points. However, the last six/seven made all the difference: at 5-5 in the third, Venus managed to gain a break that she had missed from 0-40 in the previous return round, and in the following game she brought out all her strength. his class, winning it with more ease than most of the others. It’s impossible to think it’s just a coincidence.
CHALLENGE FROM INSIDE OR OUT WITH THE MUGURUZA
It wasn’t his best match, and if he remained alive for over three hours the reason is also to be found in the 5 performance of Venus herself, but for winning the longest match of a twenty-year career at 37 years and 4 months, against an opponent who could be her daughter, requires a character with few equals on the WTA circuit. Williams hadn’t lost a tie-break since January, Ostapenko had won 19 of the last 22 matches that ended in the third set. But in a duel that had very little logic, everything went the other way around. After canceling a match point at 4-5, the Latvian took the tie-break, breaking the mini-break balance with the first point on serve, and then taking advantage of three errors in a row by the American. But the match ended up in Venus’s pocket, more due to experience than physical freshness, more due to the ability to grit one’s teeth than the quality of the tennis shown. But in tennis you can win in a thousand different ways, the important thing is to know how to adapt to the situation and take advantage of what the day offers, even when it is less than usual. Venus’ victory keeps her in contention for passage to the semi-finals, an objective achieved in all her four previous participations in the Finals, the first dating back to 1999. To give an idea, Black Venus played them in four different cities: from New York to Singapore, via Los Angeles and Doha. To win a place in the last four again she will be forced to beat Garbine Muguruza on Thursday, with the longest match of his career in his legs and the energy needle unlikely to exceed half. But it’s better not to limit it. He has already overcome an infinite number of them.
WTA FINALS SINGAPORE – WHITE GROUP
Venus Williams (USA) b. Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 7-5 6-7 7-5
