Serena looked so unwell in that interview! All bunged up; pale and tired. But she did it, and she’s got a full day to rest before the final. We’ll be covering the match against Lucie Safarova – we’d love for you to join us. Thanks so much for reading, and for all your texts and emails. Bye!
Serena is speaking to Darren Cahill:
I don’t think I’ve ever been this sick – I didn’t expect to win that, and I can’t believe I won.
I got the flu after my third-round match and I haven’t been getting better. Hopefully this is the worst and I’ll get better.
I really thought I was going to lose, and I thought: if I’m going to lose, I might as well go for winners. I was so tired, and I just fought for every point.
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Congratulations Serena Williams: she really turned that around, and won the last 10 games to reach the final. She started awfully sluggishly, not least thanks to a heavy cold and cough, but she found a way. She’ll go for her third French Open title and 20th grand slam championship against Lucie Safarova on Saturday. Timea Bacsinszky was a game opponent, and she was up a set and a break in the second, but I guess she got tight, and couldn’t hold her nerve. But she’ll be back – and she’s into the top 20 in the world for the first time.
Serena Williams wins 4-6 6-3 6-0
Williams 4-6 6-3 6-0 Bacsinszky
The crowd’s enjoying this now: Serena has dug deep, shaken off her sickness, and found her best form. What a star she is. Williams for 15-0, and now 30-0, and that’s another giant first serve, and it’s 40-0, and triple match point, but she nets an easy volley! Funny. Still two match points, though, and she takes her time, and breathes easy: will she try to finish it with an ace? She doesn’t, but Bacsinszky is long with a backhand return! Game, set and match Serena! She’s into the French Open final!
*Williams 4-6 6-3 5-0 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
The ESPN commentators reflecting on how well-liked Lucie Safarova is: Williams or Bacsinszky will play Safarova in the final on Saturday. Serena’s really in the driving seat here, though, and goes to 15-30, and then 15-40, with a dismissive down-the-line winner. Almost two hours in and she’s finally producing her top tennis! “We’re all puzzled,” admits Evert. And that’s just too good – taking her break point at the first opportunity. Bacsinszky looks done, I’m sad to say. Serena serving for the match!
Williams 4-6 6-3 4-0 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Serena’s moving so much better: those little steps to get herself in position. And she’s cranked up the serve all the way to 11. 15-0, and then 30-0, and Bacsinszky looks a little forlorn. The Swiss wins the next point for 30-15, but she can’t compete with Serena’s giant improvement, and Serena puts her away for 4-0. “Serena’s back on track,” says Chris Evert.
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Lol. Here’s Tara Moore, the British No 5, sticking her oar in on Twitter. Have a look at the responses:
Not only is serena one of the best women players of all time, she's also one of the best actresses #suckitup #learnhowtolose #pathetic
— Tara Moore (@TaraMoore92) June 4, 2015
*Williams 4-6 6-3 3-0 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Bacsinszky keeps missing her first serve, and she’s wide with a forehand winner – the kind of shot she was making in the first set. Her forehand has gone off the rails, and suddenly it’s 15-40, and this is trouble. Double break for Serena as the crowd gets itself going. But Bacsinszky saves one, and another, after Serena’s drop shot is narrowly wide! We’re at deuce.
An ace! Nicely – that’ll make her feel better, and she has the advantage, but back to deuce after a bad bounce on a deep return from Serena. Serena pounces on one from Bacsinszky that’s much too short, and it’s break point Serena – and she’s got it, holding her nerve after an exchange from the baseline! Serena now 3-0 up in this final set!
Williams 4-6 6-3 2-0 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
That was a bad game from Bacsinszky, but she ups it here, and has Serena in trouble at 15-30. And now 15-40! Double break point for the Swiss! What a chance to break back. Serena saves one, and then fires down another great serve under pressure. Serena’s now saved eight of 10 break points. Deuce.
Another ace! And it’s advantage Serena – which she takes thanks to another giant first serve! Eesh, this first serve has really gone up another notch. Chances there for Bacsinszky, but Serena brought it.
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*Williams 4-6 6-3 1-0 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Bacsinszky looks unsettled, and that’s a super inside-out forehand for 30-30. Serena does heroically to return a deep one, but Bacsinszky has a complete gimme … which she misses! Why did she pummel it?? Break point for Serena – and another error from Bacsinszky!! Serena breaks again!
Mark Turner writes:
From here, I don’t care whether Serena wins or loses, she’s already an all-time hero on today’s show. She shouldn’t be allowed out of bed, let alone on a tennis court!
She does look pretty ill, to be honest. Respect to her for giving this a go. Strange that she hasn’t called the trainer yet, though.
Serena Williams wins the second set
Williams 4-6 6-3 0-0 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
What a great first point from Serena, moving her opponent around and putting away a forehand down the line. 15-0. She’s long with the next one, though, but fires down a rocket of a serve at 193kph that Bacsinszky does well to get a racquet on. And great touch from Serena with a drop shot! This is more like it! 40-15, and the crowd is happy: they want to see a third set. Set point. Bacsinszky responds with a lovely deep return for 40-30, and now deuce! Good deep hitting from the Swiss, and two set points saved. Williams gets the advantage – sixth ace this set – and she closes out! Second set Serena!
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*Williams 4-6 5-3 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Serena not looking quite as desperate in this changeover. Bacsinszky’s eating a banana. A hammer of a return from Serena and it’s 0-15, but then Serena nets, and we’re back level. Bacsinszky moves ahead – she’s serving at about 70% on first serve – but that’s a double fault, and it’s 30-30. This match has lacked rhythm, I’d say – almost all the points have been won within the first four shots. And now Serena has break point! That’s the stuff! Slots a backhand and Serena is serving for the set!
Williams 4-6 4-3 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Serena is long with the first point of her service game, but Bacsinszky finds the net and it’s 15-15. Now then … was that long? Serena hit a winner that was right on the line, and the Swiss checks, but it’s good, and it’s 30-15, and now 40-15 with a down-the-line ace! And another! Game Serena, and she’s in front in this second set.
*Williams 4-6 3-3 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Bacsinszky is really in the box seat – but can she hold her nerve and avoid getting tight? Off to a good start here for 15-0, but Serena responds for 15-15, and then 15-30. Bacsinszky is wide there, and Serena has two break points of her own! And what a return that was! Serena breaks back immediately.
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Serena is absolutely hawking into her towel. Chris Fowler on commentary says: “She looks absolutely terrible in this changeover. Fighting back tears.”
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Williams 4-6 2-3 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Chris Evert makes a good point: “Can Serena’s serve get her out of trouble?” She’s not herself, that’s for sure. Serena, I mean; Chris Evert is doubtless on song. And now 0-30! That’s better from Serena, though, an ace, and we’re at 15-30, and then another top serve! 30-30. Some discussion about the mark from Bacsinszky – but the serve was good, according to Hawk-Eye. But Bacsinszky is on, and it’s 30-40! Break point!
Serena holds her nerve, though, and puts away a waist-high ball that sat up in mid-court. Deuce. That’s a fabulous point from the Swiss, though: a backhand she crunched down the line and a snowflake-soft drop shot to hold the advantage. Break point again!
But boom! That’s a second serve ace from Serena, but Bacsinszky gets a bit of luck at deuce, and that’s break point no 3! Long! That’s a big chance missed. Back to deuce! What a game this is.
Advantage Bacsinszky again! Surely she can’t pass this one up – but Serena finds something, and that’s another save. Fourth deuce, but that’s a stone-cold winner that prompts a “wow!” from Chris Evert. But that’s another save! Serena coming up big on the break points. Whoo-hoo, though, Bacsinszky again! Another fabulous return of serve, and it’s a sixth chance for the Swiss – which this time she takes after Serena is wide! Bacsinszky up a set and a break!
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*Williams 4-6 2-2 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Ack! Serena moved in really aggressively then but failed to put away an easy ball. 15-0. And again! Misses a put-away with Bacsinszky flailing. 30-0. It’s now 40-0, and that’s the game! Too easy for the Swiss. By gum, that was over quickly.
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Williams 4-6 2-1* Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Serena keeps making these unforced errors – she’s long on an easy forehand at 40-0. But she finishes with a nice, spiky serve out wide, and a forehand winner. That’ll make her feel better.
Villager is in Lagos:
@timmyhilleh And Williams is going to take it. She's started yelling at herself. That's always the beginning of the come back.
— Villager (@Afam20) June 4, 2015
Could be!
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*Williams 4-6 1-1 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Bacsinszky’s back, and she’s at 30-0. Serena responds for 30-15, and then finds a brilliant backhand winner. 30-30. She’s then wild with a return – it’s way long – and can’t put Bacsinszky away when she really should have! Serena didn’t do enough with her smash, then got unlucky with a net cord, and Bacsinszky is level in the second.
Sam Vardy has an answer to my spelling woes: “Surely it’s one for Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V as required?” Wahayy! But you make a good point.
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Williams 4-6 1-0 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
It’s make or break for Serena: I know she’s ill, but if she doesn’t improve she’s going home. Her serve is better here, and she moves to 30-15, and then 40-15, with a series of well-struck first serves that Bacsinszky can’t return. She misses an easy forehand, but responds with an excellent forehand, out wide, that the Swiss can only float wide.
“Come on Serena, let’s go!” shouts a bloke in the crowd with an American accent, while all else is silent. So coarse!
What a great first set. Bacsinszky on fire. More of the same, please!
(God I’m having such trouble spelling Bacsinszky. It must be my fat fingers.)
Timea Bacsinszky wins the first set
*Williams 4-6 0-0 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Bacsinszky serving for the set, and tosses down two great serves, the second an ace! Her second of the match. Serena responds for 30-15, but then the world No 1 nets an easy return, and Bacsinszky has two set points!! But here’s an odd moment: Serena stops, thinking the ball from Bacsinskzy had gone long, and the umpire has to trot over to check, but she was right: it was long. 40-30. Then Serena plays a brilliant point, perhaps the point of the match, whipping away a forehand winner after some great approach work. Deuce!
Bacsinszky is long with a regulation forehand, and it’s break point Serena! Her first of the match. But what a point from Bacsinszky! She looked in touble after hitting an enormous lob, but finished it with a clean backhand winner down the line. Second deuce.
And now the advantage with Bacsinszky! Set point No 3! She’s got it! She did brilliantly to stay in the point, and then Serena was wide with an easy forehand winner! Bacsinsky is ahead!
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Uh oh!
#Serena obviously not feeling well, holding two ice vests to her chest and face, near tears in the last game. Some rather wrong #RG15
— Nick McCarvel (@NickMcCarvel) June 4, 2015
Williams 4-5 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Serena serving to stay in the set. And she starts well, moving to 30-0 after Bacsinszky can’t return two strong first serves. These points are short – the average rally is just 3.1 shots. 40-0 now, but Serena is long again with a double-handed backhand from the baseline. Too many errors! And what a forehand that is from Bacsinszky! She really hit the cover off that for her 13th winner. (Serena has just seven.) But the Swiss will have to serve for the set after Serena forces her out with a fine kick serve. Game Serena.
*Williams 3-5 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
“Quinze-zero,” intones the umpire, as Bacsinszky begins well, but Serena is back level, only to drift a backhand from the baseline long. 30-15. And then she’s long again! Two errors in quick succession. That’s sloppy! Bacsinsky is really pumping those legs here, and Serena misses another backhand. That’s the game!
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Williams 3-4 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Serena is out of the gate quickly for 15-0, but that’s some impressive power hitting from the Swiss, and she puts away a smash from the midcourt for 15-15. Serena responds with a backhand volley of her own – 30-15– and then Serena winds up a biiiig serve that Bacsinszky can’t return. No aces yet so far, though – she hit 10, I think, against Errani. Bacsinszky is long from the back of the court and that’s an important hold for Serena.
Williams* 2-4 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Hm. Maybe that service game made Serena angry, because that was a ferocious winner with the double-handed backhand for 0-15. But she’s long on the next point, and Bacsinszky moves to 30-15, and then 40-15. Her hustle is so impressive. And then she holds for 4-2 after dominating a back-of-the-court rally. This match is on!
Williams 2-3 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Whoa. Two big returns from Bacsinszky, and Serena is in trouble at 0-30. But two good first serves allow Serena to get back to 30-30. Bacsinszky standing back of the baseline to receive these serves. Ooh – a chance! First break point opportunity after Serena is long. But she can’t make it count, and we’re deuce.
A good second serve from Serena, kicked out wide, and Serena has the advantage, but that’s a stunning return from the Swiss for a clear winner! Back to deuce. Serena misses another first serve, and that’s a brilliant drop-shot and lob combination from Bacsinszky! Serena can’t return, and it’s advantage again! Which this time she takes! Bacsinszky breaks Serena and leads 3-2!
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Williams* 2-2 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
It’s the hottest day of the tournament – temperatures into the 80s. Serena asks for a glass of ice – in French, naturally. “Un plus!” Serena finds the net first up, and it’s 15-0, and that’s a classy winner from Bacsinszky down the line to go to 30-0. She’s long with her next one though, and then finds the net with a drop shot attempt. “Well, I think we can guess what her strategy is!” says Evert. That’s a fabulous winner again, a forehand down the line, and then again! Game Bacsinszky. Good start from the Swiss!
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Williams 2-1 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Serena’s serve looks like it’s firing today, and she moves to 30-0 with the minimum of fuss. Cliché alert! Too good again from Serena, putting away a forehand winner after controlling the middle of the court, dictating the point. 40-0. And that’s the game, after Bacsinszky can only find the net. On serve so far, and Serena looking the opposite of sluggish. Full of vim?
Williams* 1-1 Bacsinszky (*denotes next server)
Bacsinszky does move round the court well, but she’s long again with an attempted backhand winner – she’s hit the biggest number of backhand winners in the tournament – and then wide again! 0-30, and great signs for Serena fans. What a great drop shot by Bacsinszky, though, to move to 15-30, and then Serena misses an easy put-away at the net! 30-30. Serena is juuuust long with a backhand but then Bacsisnsky misses a winner and we’re deuce. Another miss from Serena, and another and we’re all square at one.
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Williams 1-0 Bacsinszky* (*denotes next server)
Serena starts by pulling a backhand wide. 0-15. She’s back with an unreturnable serve, though, and then moves to 30-15, with a fabulous, authoritative forehand, inside out, that Bacsinszky can’t reach. Bacsinszky is then long – she’s just easing her way in, maybe – and then she’s wide at 4-105. Game Serena, and a comfortable hold for the world No 1.
Former Australian star (star?) Darren Cahill courtside says Serena will be fine. “No dramas,” he may or may not have said. Serena is in orange again, with the lilac headband, and Bacsinszky is in blue. Let’s play tennis!
Players warming up. We should be starting in minutes. Time for some commercials!
So what can we expect from Bacsinszky? Chris Evert – seven French Open titles – says: “Lots of drop shots, lots of backhands. She runs around her forehand, she says to likes to play spontaneously.”
But Serena has a win percentage of .885 when she reaches the semi-final stage of a slam. She’s a powerhouse at the “business end”, as they say in the business. Expect Serena – illness or no illness – to triumph.
Serena has won 19 grand slam titles. 19! What a champion. She sits only behind Steffi Graf in the Open Era leaderboard. Graf has 22.
It’s warm and sunny in Paris. Players on court soon!
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Safarova: “It’s a dream come true.”
And well might she say that – having lost in a Wimbledon semi-final last year, she’s reached her first grand slam final. And at age 28! No mean feat. Congratulations!
.@luciesafarova, in her on-court w/ @fabsantoro72, on reaching the final: "It's a dream come true. I still can't believe it." #RG15
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) June 4, 2015
Serena got here by beating Hlavackova, Friedsam, Azarenka, Sloane Stephens and Errani. Bacsinszky beat fourth seed Petra Kvitova in the last 16, and also put out 16th seed Madison Keys in the third round. Williams leads 2-0 in head-to-heads, though, and beat Bacsinszky in straight sets at Indian Wells earlier this year.
Whoever wins here will play Lucie Safarova in the final. The Czech 13th seed beat Ana Ivanovic in straight sets just now. Have a look at Jacob Steinberg’s minute-by-minute report of how that one went down:
Sad news for Ivanovic, and for Bastian Schweinsteiger, Ivanovic’s boyfriend. Oh well: they remain attractive millionaires.
“Subdued and sluggish,” says Jana Novotna.
Jana Novotna has just told us... "I saw Serena in the locker room. She seem subdued and sluggish" pic.twitter.com/SEBdttXAhy
— BBC Tennis (@bbctennis) June 4, 2015
So good news for Bacsinszky? She’s the first Swiss woman to reach the Roland Garros last four since Martina Hingis in 2001, and she’s a player on the up: she won two of her three WTA singles titles this year, after a couple of rough years where she considered packing it all in.
This BBC interview, where she reflects on her relationship with her “control freak” father Igor, is really illuminating,and sad, too. Listen here.
Hello! A lovely match-up in prospect: Serena Williams is gunning for grand slam title No 20, and Timea Bacsinszky, the 24th seed from Switzerland, is appearing in her first grand slam semi, but the big news today is that Serena’s not feeling too good, and has been struggling in her warm-up. She played really well to beat Sara Errani in straight sets yesterday, but did her post-match on-court interview through coughs and splutters, and it seems that cough has gotten worse.
Here’s former British No 1 Annabel Croft with the inside goss:
Clearly not well and zero energy from Serena in warm up - more coughing Into a towel @EurosportUKTV pic.twitter.com/uoKABAfyCF
— Annabel Croft (@Annabel_Croft) June 4, 2015
Tim will be here shortly, but in the meantime here’s how Serena got on yesterday:
For a while on Wednesday, Serena Williams seemed ageless – and almost unfairly too powerful for her opponent, as she beat the Italian Sara Errani 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals of the French Open.
While her prospective opponents, Timea Bacsinszky and Alison Van Uytvanck, were locked in a more even struggle on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Williams cruised through her most convincing win of the tournament in 65 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier, although Errani fought hard in the second set.
