Serena, who came to the U.S. Open with questions about a sore right shoulder, looked perfectly fine during her straight-set win, pounding serves at up to 121 miles per hour, including 12 aces.
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It is a case of wait and see for world number one Serena Williams as she battles a shoulder injury at the US Open. Considering her remarkable career and the way she hit 12 aces during a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ekaterina Makarova in the first round, betting against her can be unwise.
The spot, part of Nike’s “Unlimited” series from Wieden + Kennedy, goes a step further in its assessment of Williams, deeming her the “greatest athlete ever” (after striking the word female from its own onscreen copy). “In practice, none of them were going in, so I was definitely excited about that”. She cited a sore shoulder in withdrawing from a hard-court tournament a week later.
I knew today I needed to be focused because Ive played her. Shes gotten to the semifinals. Still, as she gets closer to the title here, the more history will come into play.
She had to qualify for Montreal but then made it through to the second round where she went down to Johanna Konta after recording a surprise win against Timea Babos.
Given her ability to adjust her play and rise to the big occasion on the biggest stages, it’s safe to assume that Williams is going to come back and play a match more to her liking in the third round. Inquiring minds want to know, I guess. “It was my only option really”.
That’s one huge assignment, given her Thursday match is against No. 1 seed Serena Williams.
NEW YORK-Wimbledon champions Serena Williams and Andy Murray raised the roof at the US Open on Thursday, powering into the third round with decisive straight-sets victories. Nishikori was pushed to four sets in his match, but Thiem downed Ricardas Berankis in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. “I feel like I made a lot of errors but there’s nothing I can do about that now”.
The 19-year-old Donaldson, who is now ranked No. 122, defeated Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday, following up on his 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0 upset of David Goffin in the first round. But Murray earned another break to finally clinch the set after 67 minutes, then cruised through the final two in 75 minutes combined.
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded fourth, thrashed American Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-1, while fifth seed Simona Halep of Romania was also in good form as she beat Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-0, 6-2.
“There’s nothing like playing in NY”, said Williams, who first played on Ashe in 1997 – the year it was unveiled.
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And she even figured maybe the time she couldn’t spend serving during training sessions paid off, in a way, because she was forced to work on other aspects of her game, including footwork. Amid firing down 14 aces and hitting 43 winners, the Australian rowed with the chair umpire three times and received a code violation for nearly striking a line judge with a ball in frustration. I wanted to stay fit, so.
