NEW YORK — Serena Williams had been a vulnerable conqueror at this year’s majors, living dangerously and dicing with defeat on numerous occasions as she tried to become only the fourth woman to complete the calendar Grand Slam.
On Friday, her luck finally ran out at the U.S. Open, and on a court where she had not been beaten since 2011.
In her 12th three-set contest of the electrifying 2015 run, Williams met her match in Italian doubles expert Roberta Vinci, who ended the American’s bid for a share of tennis history with a shocking 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 upset victory in the semifinals.
Williams, dominating the sport at the ripe old tennis age of 33, had repeated over and over that she felt no pressure in trying to add her name to a list comprised of Maureen Connolly (1953), Margaret Court (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988).
She tried her best to maintain that mantra after her loss on an Arthur Ashe Stadium court that had been so kind to her in the past.
“I don’t want to talk about how disappointing it is for me,” Williams said during a touchy post-match conference during which she repeatedly refused to answer questions.
“I told you guys I don’t feel pressure,” she insisted. “I never felt pressure. I never felt that pressure to win here. I said that from the beginning.”
On court, the world number one appeared impatient, flustered and weighed down by expectations against 32-year-old Vinci, over-hitting groundstrokes and second serve returns in an effort to overwhelm and discourage the Italian, who refused to shy away from the daunting challenge.
It was only the third loss in 56 matches for Williams this year and came against an opponent who had never taken a set off her in four previous meetings and was appearing in her first grand slam semi-final.
Despite the defeat, Williams has nothing to be ashamed of after an extraordinary season produced Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon wins to take her career grand slam total to 21, third on the all-time list behind Court (24) and Graf (22).
Williams’ Wimbledon triumph enabled her to boast possession of all four grand slam titles at the same time for the second “Serena Slam” of her career after first accomplishing the feat when winning the 2003 Australian Open.
Yet Williams had to fight through lapses along the way.
The world number one was extended to three sets twice at the Australian Open, five times at the French Open and twice more at Wimbledon.
She even relied on her champion’s survival instincts when she stood two points from defeat against British outsider Heather Watson in the third round at Wimbledon.
But whereas rivals in the caliber of her sister Venus and twice grand slam champion Victoria Azarenka managed to stretch Serena to three sets at the majors, delivering the killer punch seemed to be a feat beyond their capability.
It was left to a 43rd ranked, 300-1 long-shot to show the world that Serena Williams could be beaten.
In the other semifinal, face Flavia Pennetta crushed Romanian second seed Simona Halep 6-1, 6-3 in a stunning upset that put the Italian into her first grand slam final Saturday.
Pennetta, 33, entered the contest as the clear underdog but the 26th seed showed her experience and was not overwhelmed on the big stage having reached at least the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows in six of the last seven years.
“It’s amazing. I didn’t think to be so far in the tournament,” said Pennetta. “Today I think I played really well.”
Pennetta, playing in her 49th grand slam, needed 59 minutes to get by Halep and secure a long-awaited berth in the final of one of the sport’s four blue riband tournaments.
Aside from her U.S. Open resume there was little to hint at a U.S. Open final by Pennetta, who by her own admission had an unimpressive run-up to the year’s final grand slam that included second-round exits in Toronto and Cincinnati and a first-round loss in New Haven.
“I just tried to play every match the best I can from the first one. Try not to think too much about the draw, just play match by match,” Pennetta said.
In the first men’s semifinal, top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic crushed defending U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 to secure passage to his fourth consecutive grand slam final.
Djokovic needed just 85 minutes to bring Cilic’s title defence to an end.
With the rout, Djokovic ran his record to 14-0 against the ninth-seeded Croat and moved one win away from adding to his 2015 grand slam triumphs at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
The Serbian world number one will next play the winner of an all-Swiss showdown between five-times U.S. Open winner Roger Federer and French Open champion Stan Wawrinka.