With the second-round win at Flushing Meadows, Williams matched Martina Navratilova’s professional-era record of 306 Grand Slam match victories.
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No one brings the star power like Serena: Unlike, say, actress Bridget Moynahan and chef Marcus Samuelson, Beyonce and husband Jay Z weren’t in the prematch celebrity list for the evening session.
Williams arrived at the year’s final grand slam with concerns swirling around a sore shoulder that hampered her at the Rio Olympics and forced her to pull out of a tournament in Cincinnati. “I definitely don’t think I played the way I did in my first round”.
Williams’ success lies in her durability – 306 weeks at No.1.
She had just 17 unforced errors – in complete contrast to the whopping 63 in her first-round win.
Williams has the chance to break a record if she notches her 23rd grand slam title at the U.S. Open in NY this month. Maybe it will be Natalie Gulbis, who will face Germany’s Laura Siegemund, the 26th seed.
“I mean, you could hear the line calls, but not so much when the opponents – when he was hitting the ball or even when you’re hitting the ball, really, which is tough purely because we’re not used to it”.
Eleven doubles matches were canceled Thursday because of the rain. Dominic Thiem, the No. 8 seed, will also be in action against Ricardas Berankis. But Murray earned another break to finally clinch the set after 67 minutes, then cruised through the final two in 75 minutes combined.
Halep said in her on-court interview that she liked the calm conditions of playing indoors but she was “a little bit cold”. The Romanian is 19-2 in her last 21 matches.
When heavy rain began pelting the closed roof atop Arthur Ashe Stadium, Andy Murray couldn’t pick up the usual sounds of a tennis match.
Elsewhere, Serena’s sister Venus also progressed, along with fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and fifth seed Simona Halep.
The apparel company is a longtime sponsor of Williams along with Gatorade, its parent Pepsi and more than a dozen other major brands.
As for the noise under the roof – Murray said it was more intrusive than when the top is closed for rain at the All England Club’s Centre Court – he was asked whether he thinks the USTA will need look into a remedy.
Another key match comes in the nightcap on Ashe, when 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro takes on 19th-seeded American Steve Johnson. He missed 2 1/2 years’ worth of major tournaments because of three operations on his left wrist, only returning to Grand Slam action at Wimbledon in June.
The 13th-seeded Konta advanced to the third round at the U.S. Open with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory in 2 hours, 33 minutes over Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday.
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On the men’s side, Wimbledon and Olympic champion Murray plays Marcel Granollers of Spain.
