Serena Williams, one of the most dominant forces in women’s tennis over a decade, will be chasing history at the US Open, as if she wins, she will surpass the legendary Steffi Graf as the most successful woman player in terms of Grand Slam titles in the Open Era.
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The US world number one, slowed since her Wimbledon triumph by a right shoulder injury, needed just 63 minutes to dispatch 29th-ranked Makarova 6-3, 6-3.
The 2014 champion knows that her first match is going to be no walk in the park.”I know she’s a good player”, continued Williams.”I’ve just got to do the best I can”.
Williams has owned the number one spot since February 18, 2013 and will extend her streak to 186 consecutive weeks by the end of the U.S. Open fortnight, tying the WTA record held by Steffi Graf. “I didn’t go for the big 120s, just the regular”. “The bar was higher maybe than anything I’ve ever seen as far as his consistency”, McEnroe said as quoted by DailyMail.
It would also see her set a new open era record of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, as she is now tied with German Steffi Graf on 22, after beating Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final in July.
The Scotsman opens against Czech Lukas Rosol, has Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria or Feliciano Lopez of Spain as potential fourth-round foes with Japan’s sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori possibly waiting for him in the quarters.
“She will feel so much less pressure than previous year, also because she won Wimbledon and has at least tied Graf”, Shriver said.
But that hasn’t dented his confidence that he can claim a second US Open, four years after his breakthrough in NY saw him become the first British man in 76 years to win a Grand Slam title.
Nadal, a year older than both Djokovic and Murray at 30, has endured a catalogue of injury woes throughout his career, mostly involving his knees and wrists.
Tomic said after his first-round loss Tuesday that he apologized to the fan afterward.
“And then Novak obviously missed Cincinnati but only a few weeks ago he was playing in Canada as well”.
Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open victor, has been handed a wildcard entry into the tournament after taking silver in Brazil and could be an awkward early obstacle for the favourites. “If he’s playing here he must be feeling pretty good”. “If I could cut those in half, it’s definitely a different story”. He added, though: “He definitely baited me the whole set for me to say that”. It was a tough opening matchup for Querrey – Tipsarevic is a former top-10 player whose ranking is down to 250th after a series of injuries. He can be really aggressive.
Earlier in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Rafael Nadal stood near the net after winning his first Grand Slam match in three months – 6-1 6-4 6-2 against Denis Istomin – and unravelled the thick wrap of white tape protecting his all-important left wrist.
“It was a great feeling of course”, said Nishikori, whose breakthrough run in 2014 was followed by an abrupt first-round exit previous year.
All in all, Djokovic’s issues figure to loom large as the tournament progresses, and therefore amounted to the most noteworthy development at Flushing Meadows, even if there were results of interest elsewhere.
Fourth-seeded Rafa Nadal, victor of 14 slams, and fifth seed Milos Raonic of Canada could clash in the quarters for a possible semi-finals showdown with Djokovic.
The draw was made Friday, and Williams could encounter fifth-seed Simona Halep in the quarterfinals and big sister Venus, now 36, in the semifinals.
The Serb was serving for the first set at 6-5 but struggled with her serve and faltered in the tiebreaker.
The late wobble, in front of a crowd that included compatriot Nadia Comeneci – the first gymnast to be awarded a flawless score of 10 – had Halep rating her own performance “less than nine”. The two-time US Open champ – a quarterfinalist previous year – faces Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova first up.
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Radwanska will face Britain’s Naomi Broady for a place in the last 32.
