US Open 2020: Serena Williams vs Victoria Azarenka Preview, Head to Head, Prediction

Old foes take the center stage at US Open 2020 on Thursday night when Serena Williams, 3^rd seeded American, chasing her 24^th Grand Slam title will come up against the unseeded Victoria Azarenka in the semifinal. These two amazing players have given us some memorable matches in the past and the fans would be expecting to witness a classic battle tonight.

In what is regarded as a historic tournament, with 3 mothers making it into the last 8 of the US Open Women’s Draw, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka have led the mother’s charge. Serena Williams has had a good tournament but has faced a lot of hiccups on her way into the last 4. In the first two rounds, she comfortably breezed past through K.Ahn and M.Gasparyan in straight sets before playing 3 tough setters each against Sloane Stephens, M.Sakkari and another mother and unseeded Bulgarian, Tvsetana Pironkova.

During her quarterfinal clash against Tvsetana Pironkova, Serena Williams was certainly caught off guard in the first set losing 6-4, before coming back and winning the next two sets 6-3,6-2 and booking a place in the last 4.

Victoria Azarenka on the other hand is probably playing her best tennis defeating 5^th seeded and fellow Berlausian, Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets hardly breaking any sweat. She has just dropped one set this tournament against the 20^th seeded Karolina Muchova in the 4^th round.

Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka have faced each other 22 times during their career with Serena winning on 18 occasions and dropping just 4 matches against Azarenka. However, all her losses against Azarenka have been on Hard Courts which is where US Open is being played. Their last outing was at Indian Wells 2019 where Serena beat Azarenka in straight sets, 7-5,6-3. Surprisingly, Serena Williams has never lost a Grandslam match against Azarenka in their 9 previous meetings at Grand slams.

Their first grand slam meeting came way back in 2008 Australian Open 3^rd round when the 19-year-old, Azarenka was defeated by Serena Williams in straight sets. Two of their most memorable encounters have come been in the US Open 2012 and 2013 Finals where they battled for 3 sets with Williams getting better of her rival Azarenka on both occasions.