IN pursuit of her 24th Grand Slam title, Serena Williams shook off a slow start to beat fellow mother Tsvetana Pironkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the U.S. Open semifinals.

Williams, a six-time champion in New York, struggled with unseeded Pironkova of Bulgaria early but fought back from one set down to secure a quarterfinal victory.

“I’m happy to be standing here... because at one point I was pretty close to not being here,” Williams said during the on-court winner’s interview. “I keep fighting and one thing that I am super excited about is I never give up.”

Pironkova, back after an absence of more than three years during which she had a baby in early 2018, made a nice start as she consolidated a break to go ahead 4-2 in the first set.

After Williams saved two set points on serve to pull within 4-5, the Bulgarian held her nerve and secured the opener with a backhand cross-court winner.

In the second, Williams won a 24-point rally to break and open up a 5-3 lead and then, after falling behind 15-30 on her serve, fired three consecutive aces to force a decider.

Williams broke to start the third set in a game during which she even hit a left-handed shot, and never looked back as Pironkova suddenly started to run out of gas.

Despite the loss, Pironkova’s performance won a lot of respect from her opponent across the net.

“Whenever you can birth a baby honestly you can do anything and I think we saw that with Tsvetana today. She played unbelievable,” said Williams.

Williams said she was in awe of Pironkova’s run to the last eight of the 2020 U.S. Open, which is Pironkova’s first professional tournament since Wimbledon in 2017.

“I couldn’t even do that. I could barely win a match when I came back so she’s incredible.”

“It’s like you play a match and you go home and you’re still changing diapers. It’s like a double life, it’s really surreal,” she added.

Up next for the 38-year-old Williams, who has been pushed to three sets in her last three victories, is former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who defeated Elise Mertens 6-1 6-0 to storm into her first U.S. Open semifinal since 2013.

Meanwhile, China’s Xu Yifan teamed up with American Nicole Melichar to edge past Asia Muhammad/Taylor Townsend of the United States in three sets to reach the women’s doubles final at the U.S. Open on Wednesday.

The third seeds were forced into a final-set tiebreak, where they saved a match point, before overcoming Muhammad and Townsend in a tremendous tussle 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7) and booked their ticket to the final.

Melichar said: “Before the match, I told my coach I was prepared for a 7-6 in the third set. Obviously I’m thrilled we won 7-6 in the third. You always wish that it’s easier, but we fought our hearts out.”

“Asia and Taylor played a great match,” Melichar continued. “We’ve known each other for so many years, played against each other so many times.”

“I’m so proud of Nicole and I, we’ve really worked very hard every day,” said Xu.(SD-Xinhua)