Three-time champion Serena Williams stormed past world No. 1 Carolie Wozniacki on Saturday to set up a showdown with Samantha Stosur in what promises to be an emotional US Open final.
Williams, a 13-time Grand Slam champion, said she was thrilled to have a chance to represent America as the country commemorates the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“Especially with 9/11, it really meant a lot to me to come out here as an American and still be here and still be in the tournament,” Williams said after mauling the top-seeded Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4.
The final will be preceded by a ceremony remembering the victims and honoring the efforts of rescue workers in the catastrophe.
“I really wanted to get to the final,” Williams said. “Everything that New York and America went through. It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years.”
Stosur, the 2010 French Open runner-up, reached the second Grand Slam final of her career with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory over unseeded German Angelique Kerber.
Williams will be seeking a 14th Grand Slam title and her first since Wimbledon in 2010. That victory was followed by a litany of health problems, starting with a cut foot that required surgery and including blood clots in her lungs. “I really feel like I don’t have anything to lose,” she said. “I’ve beaten all odds. Six months ago I was in the hospital.”
{{/usCountry}}Williams will be seeking a 14th Grand Slam title and her first since Wimbledon in 2010. That victory was followed by a litany of health problems, starting with a cut foot that required surgery and including blood clots in her lungs. “I really feel like I don’t have anything to lose,” she said. “I’ve beaten all odds. Six months ago I was in the hospital.”
{{/usCountry}}Stosur at least has the comfort of knowing she has beaten Williams twice, including in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year when Stosur saved a match point en route to her victory. “That’s a big confidence booster. But every tournament is new,” Stosur said.