The US Open semifinals & beyond: what’s at stake for Serena Williams?

Whenever she goes deep into the second week of a Grand Slam, there’s always a lot at stake for Serena Williams, numbers-wise. Here’s just some of what she’ll be chasing over the next few days:

She’s going for revenge against Svitolina in the semifinals. Serena leads Svitolina in their head-to-head series, 4-1, but Svitolina’s only win actually came in their last meeting, the Ukrainian prevailing in straight sets in the third round of the Rio Olympics three years ago, 6-4, 6-3. Serena was struggling with should inflammation that summer, though, withdrawing from both Montreal and Cincinnati.

“Obviously she’s a fighter,” Serena said of Svitolina ahead of their semifinal clash. “She gets a lot of balls back. She doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. She’s one of those players that does everything well. So I have to do everything well, too. That was a rough Olympics for me. Oh, man. Lost in doubles for the first time. Just really devastated about that doubles loss. Then obviously the singles shortly after.

“I didn’t play the Olympics in Rio,” she added, smiling.

This has been a good round at Grand Slams for the former No. 1, though - she’s 9-3 in her career in US Open semifinals, and an even more impressive 32-5 in her career in Grand Slam semifinals.

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She’s a win away from her 33rd Grand Slam final. That would be the standalone second-most Grand Slam finals in the Open Era, male or female—she’s currently tied for second place with Martina Navratilova at 32. Chris Evert holds the record for most Grand Slam finals in the Open Era with 34.

She’s two wins away from her 24th Grand Slam title. Serena currently has the second-most career Grand Slam titles - male or female and all-time - with 23, after Margaret Court, who won 24 (11 in the Open Era and 13 before the Open Era). She would tie Court’s record by winning the US Open.

She’s going for a record seventh US Open title. Serena’s won the US Open six times in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014, tying her with Chris Evert for most US Open titles in the Open Era, male or female. If she wins her seventh US Open title this year, she’ll set the new Open Era record.

She could also break Evert’s record for most career match wins at the US Open. Serena scored her 100th career match win at the US Open against China’s Wang Qiang in the quarterfinals. With two more she’ll break Evert’s record for most career US Open wins in the Open Era—Evert had 101.

She’s trying to become the oldest player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era. Serena, who’s 37 years old—and just a few weeks from turning 38—is trying to surpass the record of Ken Rosewall, who won the 1972 Australian Open at 37 years and 62 days old.

She’s going for her first title (and Slam) as a mom. Only three mothers have won majors in the Open Era: Court, who won three, Evonne Goolagong, who won two and Kim Clijsters, who won three.

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