NEW YORK _ Twenty years after she won her first U.S. Open singles title, Serena Williams will vie for her seventh championship here and for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam event singles crown.
Williams, who grew up in Compton, Calif., powered past Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1 Thursday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the first women's semifinal. Her opponent in Saturday's final will be the winner of Thursday night's second semifinal, between No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and No. 15 Bianca Andreescu of Canada. Neither Bencic nor Andreescu has played in the final of a Grand Slam event.
Williams also tied Chris Evert's record of 101 wins at the U.S. Open. "I just come out here and do what I can," Williams said in an on-court interview in which she thanked the fans for their 20 years of support.
Williams, who will be 38 on Sept. 26, was the runner-up last year at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She will play in her fourth Grand Slam final since she returned to competition six months after giving birth to her daughter, Olympia, on Sept. 1, 2017. She has not won a major title since her return.
After a tense start Thursday in which each of the first two games went to deuce several times and each player had multiple break points, No. 8 seed Williams hit her stride and took control. She broke Svitolina's serve in the second game and saved three break points against her in the fifth game, building a 4-1 lead. Williams won the first set on her first opportunity, when Svitolina _ seeded No. 5 _ sent a backhand return into the net. The set took 41 minutes.
Svitolina hadn't lost a set in advancing to the semifinals. Williams has lost only one set, in the second round to Caty McNally.
Williams broke Svitolina's serve in the third game of the second set and the rout was on, to the delight of a crowd that cheered her every move. Williams played more of a serve-and-volley game than usual, winning 11 of 16 points at the net, and outpaced Svitolina in winners, 33-11. Svitolina had six break points on Williams' serve but could not convert any of them.
Williams' career head-to-head record against Bencic is 3-1. She has faced Andreescu once and retired from the first set of their matchup in the final at a tournament in Toronto this summer.
