"I had to do something different, like actually warm up," Williams joked of her new commitment to fitness. "I was really disappointed at Wimbledon...it’s time to get serious not only at the Slams but at every other tournament as well."
Tonight, the difference between the Sharapova and Williams serves was, to borrow the Mark Twain phrase, as glaring as the difference between lightning bug and lightning. Williams hit six aces and surrendered serve once, Sharapova dumped seven double faults and dropped serve five times.
This match up reminds me a bit of Serena vs. Lindsay Davenport in that Sharapova, like Davenport, is a ferocious flat hitter who is at her best playing unrelenting offense. Sharapova is skilled at opening the court with down the line drives, the competitive quandary she faces with Serena is that Williams has such a faster first step, is more skilled at hitting short-angle shots and is so much more accurate and explosive hitting on the run that even when Sharapova opens the court she sometimes sets herself up for misery in creating angles Williams exploits.
The three-time Grand Slam champion took the court riding a 17-2 record over her last 19 matches. Reality struck Sharapova three games into the match when Williams whipped a forehand return winner crosscourt for break point then unloaded another forehand to break for 3-0.
Sharapova has tried to strengthen her serve this season, but her second serve offers little margin for error and frequently flirts with the top of the tape under pressure. The service box looked as large as a mailbox as Sharapova opened the seventh game with successive double faults and drove a double fault deep to drop the opening set.
Williams broke at love to take a 2-0 second-set lead. Sharapova began to strike her backhand with more authority, but Williams punished the Russian’s forehand on pivotal points, denying a pair of break points in earning an eight-minute hold for 3-0.
Next up for Williams is Wimbledon semifinalist Sabine Lisicki, one of the few women in the world who can match Serena's first-serve speed, though Lisicki's second serve is not nearly as imposing as Williams' second delivery.
She’s listed at No. 169 in the rankings, but if Serena can stay fit and focused and consistently produce this quality of tennis over the next four weeks she will arrive in New York as the one to beat in her U.S. Open return.
— Richard Pagliaro