One has to feel for Victoria Azarenka tonight. The world No. 4, playing some of the best tennis of her career, played about as well we've ever seen in the Rogers Cup semifinals in Toronto and still found herself ruthlessly demolished by Serena Williams, 6-3 6-3.
The scoreline is both misleading and accurate; this was an intensely competitive match featuring some of the best rallies I have seen all year. At the same time, the outcome was never truly in doubt. Azarenka is one of the most consistently excellent returners in the women’s game, relying on her deep cross-court returns to get inside the baseline and dominate the point, and that approach earned her a break point in the very first game, only for Williams to produce her first ace and quickly hold with an unreturnable serve. It set the tone for the rest of the match; whenever Azarenka could get hold of Williams’ serve, she worked her way into protracted baseline exchanges, soaking up Williams’ groundstrokes and usually drawing an error from her. She also did an excellent job of taking every opportunity to produce an aggressive, early winner. That she still lost in straights is perhaps best explained by the fact that Williams only lost two points behind her first serve in the entire match.
After a clean backhand winner from Williams took her up a break in the first set, 4-2, Azarenka dug in and broke back with some aggressive play of her own. She did nothing wrong in the next game, but still found herself broken back and on the brink of losing the first set. With Williams serving at 5-3, Azarenka hit two exceptional returns, only for an ace to go by and seal the set. It was hard to watch Azarenka’s increasingly grim face between points, for the same reason that it’s difficult to say too much about this match: no matter what the world No. 4 tried, Serena Williams was simply too good for her.
Azarenka finally capitulated in the seventh game of the second set, hitting two loose shots in a row and a double fault to hand the crucial break to Williams. For the first time, the match felt one-sided, and two games later it was over. Azarenka left the court, and Williams moves on to her second final in just her fourth tournament back from injury, to face Samantha Stosur.
What was perhaps most impressive was the almost eerie calm with which Williams made her inspired tennis look routine. In her previous two matches, against Zheng Jie and Lucie Safarova, she started off subdued and ended with furious, screaming intensity. Tonight she played with cool focus from beginning to end, leaving the spectators—whether intentionally or not—with the distinct and intimidating impression that she could go up several levels in quality and intensity should the occasion require it. It’s hard to see who can stop her.
—Hannah Wilks