Howard Bryant, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Winning Serena's sole focus

Tennis

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Serena Williams is engaged in a two-step program at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The first was to withstand the maelstrom of emotions that surrounded her return to the tournament after nearly 15 years. The questions of her return -- not the negotiations that preceded it or the political components in a time of heightened racial tensions -- were appropriately bigger than tennis. It was far more important than a first-round match with Monica Niculescu.

Step 1 is complete. Now Williams can fully engage in Step 2: winning the tournament. She overcame Niculescu, destroyed Zarina Diyas, flattened Sloane Stephens and beat Timea Bacsinszky in the quarterfinals. Yet in her classic third-person assessment, Williams is aware of her truth. She hasn't played particularly well. Her starts have been slow, evidenced by 0-2, 0-3 and 0-2 holes in three of those matches.

No player, however, has made Williams pay. Her championship credentials find their way into every match, crucially and decisively. Her serve, which separates her from the rest of the women's game, has been sporadic -- equally dazzling and disappointing. (She had nine double faults versus Stephens.) But when it was time, Williams' serve broke Stephens.

So far, the Williams dynamic here is what it has been for the past few years. Each match rests on her racket. The questions being whether her early sluggishness would put her in a deficit from which she would not escape, or if, at 33, one of those bad days from Williams will come at the wrong time -- on the biggest stage.

"Well, you know me. I can't name anything I'm pleased with today," Williams said after beating Bacsinszky. "I'm just happy that I was able to get through that and still be alive in this tournament when I haven't been the Serena that we all know."

In the semifinals, world No. 3 Simona Halep awaits. This is the same Halep who destroyed Williams 6-0, 6-2 in the year-end championships round-robin stage, and the same Halep whom Williams destroyed 6-3, 6-0 days later in the final. Williams is 4-1 lifetime against her Romanian opponent.

"They were totally different," Williams said, referring to the Singapore matches. "What I take out most is to be ready. I expect her to be playing an incredible game. I don't think I was necessarily ready for that. Now I'm ready for her to be the great player that she is capable of being."

Halep, in many ways, is the anti-Stephens. Both had their breakouts in 2013. Stephens beat Williams in the Australian Open quarters, and Halep, who ended 2012 ranked 47th, won six titles in 2013 and finished the year 11th.

Stephens also reached 11th in the world. She became famous for beating Williams at the Aussie. As an American, Stephens was given dispensation as being a "big-match player," as so much of the tennis world and its punditry desperately craves another American star. She sold many products, parroting her sponsor Under Armour's slogan, "I Will What I Want."

The hot lights followed her, and, outside of being famous, Stephens has wilted under them. She's currently ranked 42nd in the world.

Stephens lives with a sense of unsettled confrontation and has an odd detachment from competition. (After losing the final two sets 6-2, 6-2 versus Williams, Stephens said how happy she was of how she "competed.") And at this stage in her career, it is unclear how much of the fight she really wants.

Meanwhile, Halep is all fight. She started 2014 ranked 11th and finished third. Last year she reached the Australian Open quarters, the French Open final and the Wimbledon semifinals.

"I learned that if I have courage to go on court and just to think that I can win, I can do it," Halep said of the two matches with Williams in Singapore. "I'm nervous and have emotions. It's much more difficult to play against her. You have to just believe and just to go to your game and try everything to win."

Halep won Doha, a Premier 5-level event a few weeks ago, but Indian Wells would be the biggest tournament victory of her career. Williams stands in her way, but Halep isn't unique in that regard. Serena Williams stands in everyone's way.

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