WANG Qiang turned around a complete embarrassment just four months ago to cause the boilover of the tournament today, downing 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in three tight sets. The American champion defeated Qiang in 45 minutes four months ago, just winning one game for the entire match. It was a different story today with Qiang booking a spot in the Round of 16 for the first time, while denying Williams of her seventh Australian Open crown.

Williams started with a double fault but quickly got back into the opening game with a couple of forced errors, a powerful winner and an ace to hold serve. The power coming from Williams’ racquet was already looking like a problem for the lightly-built Qiang, with nearly every early point coming off the American’s forehand. Luckily for the Chinese 27th seed, Williams missed four and helped her crucially hold serve.

Unfazed by a few early faults and over-hits, Williams was keeping her cool telling herself to adjust her action rather than hook it, which she did a couple of times into the net in the third game. Qiang was trying to find a way to match the power of the number eight seed, but her own attempts were falling short or going wide. Against the flow, Qiang hit her first winner at deuce in the game, with a nice backhand winner down the line to bring up an early break point. A couple of winners and a forced error later, and order was restored with Williams holding, but her opponent sending a message that she was willing to weather the storm.

Staring down a break point in the last game clearly motivated the 23-time Grand Slam winner, hitting back-to-back winners off her backhand early in the fourth game. Qiang responded with a backhand cross-court winner of her own and then produced a nice serve down the tee to help her hold in a game where she threw down the gauntlet to Williams with her own strength that could expose Williams – court coverage. A huge backhand winner down the line early in the fifth game from Qiang and it was clear that this was not going to be a walk in the park for the tournament favourite. Williams held serve thanks to some powerful serve placement, but she was having to step up to a level she has not had to go to at Melbourne Park in 2020 thus far.

The entertaining battle was a real battle of brute strength against counter punching court coverage, with Qiang trying to move the 38-year-old around the court, while Williams was trying to blow her 28-year-old opponent off it. The American brought up her first break point of the contest in the sixth game, but it was saved by a well-timed short forehand winner. The American was taking advantage of the slower second serve from her opponent, smashing home a forehand winner down the line to bring up a second break point, but then Williams made the odd decision to produce a drop shot against the speedy 27th seed who not only recovered it with ease, but hit a winner past a flat-footed Williams stuck in the middle of the court. In a twist of fate that was the way that Qiang held the game, as another break point opportunity came and went, but a Williams’ drop shot led to the Chinese number one getting it past her.

Williams was well and truly being tested, even eliciting the odd ‘C’mon’ accompanied by a fist pump when she was able to force her opponent on the back foot as she held again to move to a 4-3 lead. Just as it looked like Qiang would hold easily, Williams produced a couple of big shots, including a massive forehand winner and worked her way from 15-40 down to having a break point. While their playing styles could not be more different, their between-points preparation was a similar story with Qiang almost rushing to get ready for each point, while Williams was taking time to reassess each point as it came.

With the match back level at 4-4, Williams served her second double fault of the match and was starting to err on her forehand that had treated her well in the mid-part of the set. Another mind-boggling decision to play a drop shot against Qiang at 0-30 was costly as the Chinese talent again easily recovered it then powered it past a flat-footed Williams, then took advantage of a lucky net cord on the next point to hit a winner off her forehand to take the break to love.

All of a sudden the underdog was serving for the opening set 42 minutes in with a 5-4 lead. The frustration was beginning to show for Williams who while remaining calm, was being worked around the court and forced into slicing. Unbelievable court coverage from Qiang saw her bring up two match points with a deep low forehand forcing Williams to mishit, and then a well-placed second serve resulted in an unforced error off the return. Qiang had won the first set 6-4 and was one set away from a Grand Slam Round of 16.

Williams held her opening serve of the second set, and with plenty of advice from one particularly vocal American fan in the crowd, the atmosphere on Rod Laver was electric. Cheers for the number eight seed were matched by the Chinese cheersquad down the Punt Road end. As she had during the first set, Qiang weathered the gauntlet thrown down to her by Williams in rallies, and finished the second game off with her first ace down the tee line.

The danger signs were beginning to show as Qiang got to 0-30 with a couple of timely winners, forcing Williams to go to another gear and power her way back into the game with some blistering flat forehands that resulted in Qiang almost replacing a linesperson at the back of the court. A very fortunate net cord at 30-30 saw a Williams shot drop just marginally over the net and while Qiang made up more ground than any player on the tour deserved to, she could not quite reach it, giving Williams a game point – which she took.

Speaking of confidence, Qiang was up and about on her serve, racing to a comfortable 40-0 lead before holding a couple of points later. The same could not be said for the Australian Open favourite, looking out of sorts the very next game and falling 0-40 behind. There was a sense that she was beginning to feel the effects of her Chinese opponents’ counter punching game, and the worst fears became real when another shorter shot resulted in Qiang hitting a forehand winner down the line to break for the second time in the match and take a 3-2 lead.

The one area where Williams was still capitalising was on Qiang’s second serve, and she hit a powerful return winner to go to 0-30 in the sixth game. Though once again the world number 29 had the answers with a couple of well-placed first serves and an uncharacteristic backhand error from Williams. Sone of the winners coming off Qiang’s racquet had to be seen to be believed, with the 28-year-old hitting a passing forehand winner that Williams challenged, but Hawkeye ticked off. It helped Qiang then hold the next point despite the American throwing everything she could at her opponent.

The seventh game of the set would be Williams’ most important of the tournament so far. If she was broken, then Qiang would be serving for the match. If she held, then she was still a sniff to remain in the Open. Williams was still playing a run-and-gun game with her shots providing some good highlights, but a lot of the time her backhand was causing more harm than good to her chances. Back-to-back misses at 30-15 brought up some rowdiness from the crowd, with everyone aware of the ramifications of the break point. A missed serve and the pressure mounted, but the greatest of all-time stayed cool and delivered a telling forehand winner down the line. A couple of strong serves later and Williams was able to breathe a sigh of relief with a hold and a 3-4 deficit rather than a 2-5 one.

The pressure was over to Qiang who knew she had to hold in order to remain a break clear of Williams and move one game away from a Round of 16 appearance. The seven-time Australian Open winner knew she had to pull something special out and after a couple of massive winners, earned a break point. Yet once again, Qiang found a way through the barrage to hit another passing winner at the net from a Williams shorter ball. A fortunate net cord to the Chinese player saw the ball drop short, force Williams in and what would be a routine forehand winner missed.

Serving at 3-5 down and staring down the barrel of an upset loss, Williams smashed her way to a 40-0 lead in the ninth game of the set. While Qiang managed to win a backcourt rally, Williams held much to the relief of her fans in the crowd. Now a fourth round spot laid on the racquet of the Chinese world number 29 if she could do what she has done in every other service game and hold.

A forehand went awry on the first point for the Chinese player, and then a slow second serve resulted in Williams putting home a backhand winner. A crosscourt shot from Qiang resulted in a net from Williams and settled the nerves. But, like every great champion, Williams stepped up and broke for the first time in the match with an unbelievable cross-court shorter forehand winner.

The score was 5-5 and Williams still had work to be done. She looked like a player possessed, going full throttle with every shot and like early in the match, she hit a lovely winner, but then missed two bringing up a couple of break points. She got back to deuce with a third ace of the contest, then produced a forehand winner down the line to set up a game point which she capitalised on.

Wang’s turn to try and hold, now facing the first deficit since early in the match at 5-6, she knew going into a deciding set would be dangerous given Williams’ form of the past few games. Nonetheless, Wang made a statement after being broken in her last service game, breaking to love and sending the match into a second set tiebreaker.

Williams powered her way to a mini-break early in the tiebreaker, with a hint of luck thanks to a net cord that tipped the ball over to go 2-1 up. An incorrect challenge from Williams on an ace followed by a second fault removed the break, but then another incorrect challenge, this time from Qiang resulted in Williams regaining a 4-2 lead. A point later and a strange decision by Qiang to hit a volley back at Williams resulted in the Grand Slam champion hitting a winner into the open forehand court for a 5-2 advantage.

Some unbelievable rallying from both players saw Qiang take a chance on a forehand shot down the line but it missed, much to the relief of the fans who were challenging the American world number nine to step it up. Williams did just that by taking the second set and now she was back on even terms, and more importantly, with the momentum.

All eyes were on Qiang who would open the set serving having to move past the disappointment of not closing out the match, after having the chance to hold a double break at one point. On the other hand, Williams was hitting cleaner and growing in confidence which is dangerous for any opponent. Her movement was still limited compared to her opponent and she was struggling when forced wide, something Qiang took advantage of to hold in the first game of the decider.

A crosscourt backhand winner on the first point of her service game was a message that the Serena everyone knew was back in action. But an equally impressive backhand crosscourt winner from Qiang on the next point told her that she was not going to be able to stroll through the final set. A hard-fought point won by Serena was followed by a terrific winner from her opponent to bring up the first break point of the set. But back-to-back aces and a huge forehand winner from Serena told a story that the American was up for the challenge and she too held to go one-game all.

Qiang served her second ace of the contest to start the third game, but another low bullet from Williams levelled the score. While both players were making some unforced errors, Qiang did enough to remain composed and hold once again to heap the pressure back on the favourite as the match ticked past two hours. But the favourite stepped up in arguably her best service game in some time, not coughing up a break point and winning it comfortably with some strong serves to level at 2-2.

A huge chance to win a crucial point receiving went begging for Williams who approached the net but missed the standard volley to an exasperated sigh of “oh my God”. It proved costly as Qiang won the game to love in just over a minute, finishing it off with a backhand winner down the line. A confident Williams was not going to stew on it though, producing a textbook serve-volley to open the sixth game of the set with a big winner. Her backhand was still giving her grief, with another wild attempt that went sailing out of court. But now her second serve was starting to trouble her opponent and she was putting more kick into it than earlier in the match against a smaller player. For every missed shot though, Williams managed to find another winner with a great backhand down the line. Yet another ace down the middle helped her hold serve and it was back to 3-3 in the decider.

While Williams was doing enough to hold her serve, Qiang continued to roll on with hers, producing some well-placed serves to go 30-0 up and should have been 40-0 up had it not been for a disappointing volley that missed a wide open look on Williams’ backhand side. The Grand Slam champion then provided one of the shots of the match, hitting a passing winner from the approaching Qiang who had been rock solid at the net all day. Head in hands realising her missed opportunity and then receiving a time violation for her serve, Qiang was being forced to lift herself against the power of a champion. But remarkably, she did it. Back-to-back big serves helped her remain on serve at 4-3 and the match looked set to go the distance based on the form of both players.

Sensing the importance of the eighth game, Williams dug deep with her first couple of serves to quickly raced to 30-0. But then the inconsistent Williams from the first set returned, forced on the back foot to lose the third point, then serving a double fault with the next and all of a sudden it was 30-30. An overhead smash close to the net settled the nerves, though another backend error brought the game to deuce. It was clear this was a defining moment in the match. Another bizarre decision by Williams to slice a ball from the baseline that sailed well out handed Qiang a break point at the worst time. Much to the relief of the American portion of the crowd, she held on with a saving volley. Then good Serena returned and she cruised to win the next two points and it was 4-4.

It would be a task in itself to try and break Qiang, who while not being a powerful server, placed the ball so well and was forcing Williams to take an extra step to the right at times so she was mis-hitting the crosscourt shot. The Chinese seed moved to 5-4 and now it was up to the seven-time champion if she was going to be able to remain in the tournament for at least another couple of games. She answered that question fairly quickly with a powerful service game that raced to 40-0, before Qiang had yet another amazing down the line forehand winner that left Williams as stunned as she was impressed. An ace to close out the game for the American levelled the scores once again, and there was only two full service games remaining in the match.

If Williams was going to make a move prior to the tiebreak, it had to be now. She claimed a big winner and then enjoyed some sort of a rally with Qiang’s down the line shot looking like a winner, only for the American to hit a perfectly weighted backhand to the open court. Another huge shot from Qiang right in the backhand corner was challenged by Williams but it was the correct call and the 27th seed had the all-important game point which she took with a Williams backhand into the net.

The pressure was back on the Grand Slam champion for the final service game of the match. Williams took a chance on a forehand flat shot but it missed, and then a backhand crosscourt shot to the same spot received an identical call from the same linesperson. She was 0-30 down and now it was danger time. A strong serve forced an error off the return from Qiang to win one point back, but a wild serve then a forced backhand error and Qiang had the first match points of the day. A fault followed with whispers building around the crowd, but Williams held her nerve with her second point and nerves seemed to be getting to the Chinese player as she hit an uncharacteristic unforced error long off her backhand then hit a standard forehand straight into the net. Williams’s first serve was going missing but Qiang was not capitalising, with Williams missing across court. A let and then a fault for Williams had everyone nervous around the stadium and when her baseline shot went into the net, the crowd roared after a terrific contest.

In the end, Qiang was just more consistent for longer, and while she failed to close out the match on several occasions, it was the inconsistency of Williams, particularly on her backhand, that ultimately cost the Grand Slam champion from moving into the fourth round.