Serena Williams cruises into French Open semifinals
The tennis world has been buzzing as Serena Williams dropped the first set in each of her last three rounds at Roland Garros.
Wednesday morning, the 19-time Grand Slam champion erased concerns over her game, coming out in her usual dominant style to win her quarterfinal match, 6-1, 6-3.
Williams defeated No. 17 Sara Errani in just over an hour, hitting 10 aces and 39 winners en route to the win.
"I knew today I've got to be focused; she's a real fighter," Williams said afterward.
She dominated even without her impressive serve, which has been weak as she battles an elbow injury.
"Obviously it's a big part of my game; I've missed it a lot," she said. Regardless, she seems well on her way to making history again. Only one other top-10 seed remains in the draw.
The last player to win a calendar year Grand Slam was Steffi Graf in 1988. The last to win the Australian Open and Roland Garros in the same year was Jennifer Capriati in 2001.
To reach the final, Williams must get past No. 23 seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. Bacsinzky defeated Alison Van Uytvanck 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals, the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career.
Williams has won both of their previous meetings. This is only her second semifinal in Paris in the past 12 years. She won the title the last time she made it this far, in 2013.
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Danielle Elliot is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact her at delliot@yahoo-inc.com or find her on Twitter and Facebook.
