Serena Williams has set an nearly unbeatable new Grand Slam record after easing past rival Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 and subsequently winning her 308th Grand Slam.
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The world number one would punctuate her victory with a service victor, downing Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 to set the record for most singles wins at the majors. “I got the power from the crowd in every match”.
Dimitrov was at a loss and did not realise what hit him until he was packing his bags and leaving Arthur Ashe Stadium.
But her decision to keep going has her rewriting records that were never even on her radar, each one fuelling her desire to continue a spectacular spell of dominance.
“I was really trying. I’m not going to let that opportunity go”.
Meanwhile, with Radwanska out of the picture, second-seeded German Angelique Kerber is now the only player with a chance to end Williams’s 186-week reign atop the rankings. World number four Agnieszka Radwanska also made a shock exit.
She’ll face Simona Halep for a semifinal berth after the fifth seeded Romanian dispatched Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 7-5.
Williams came into the tournament with concerns about a right shoulder injury but the 34-year-old is yet to have her serve broken in NY and has given away only one break point.
She has reached the business end of the tournament without dropping a set or indeed even dropping her serve.
Looking to progress beyond the fourth round in Flushing Meadows for the first time in her career, Radwanska appeared on track for a routine win after earning a 2-0 lead at the start of the opening set but it was all downhill from there.
Having matched Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon this year – after an agonizing dry spell – she is aiming to break that mark and close in further on Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
Halep, beaten in 7 of 8 prior encounters with Williams, was already bracing for the challenge. “I don’t have to be afraid or to have emotions because I have nothing to lose”, Halep said.
“I just think winning 308 matches in general is pretty awesome”.
Williams’ very first win at a Grand Slam tournament came way back when she was 16, a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1 victory over Irina Spirlea in the first round of the Australian Open on January 19, 1998.
“In the breaker, I went for a little bit more, but I didn’t put the ball in enough”, said the 36-year-old American, whose seven Grand Slam titles include two US Opens.
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“Everyone I’m playing is playing like they’re number one”. Konjuh will play Karolina Pliskova, another Grand Slam quarterfinal debutante, for a spot in the US Open semifinals. Despite her entrenched position in the top 20 she had never made it past the third round of a major in 17 prior tries. For that to be in a grand slam is pretty cool.
