If Williams wins the U.S. Open, she’ll boost that number to 311 and earn her 23rd major title.
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Simona Halep, of Romania, reacts after beating Carla Suarez Navarro, of Spain, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, in NY. The No. 1 tennis star dominated Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2 6-3 in the fourth round of the tournament Monday to collect her 308th grand slam win.
The victory lifted Konjuh to a last eight match against Karolina Pliskova who overcame Venus Williams 4-6 6-4 7-6 to advance. Until this tournament, she never had been past the third round in 17 appearances at majors.
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.
“It’s always hard to play against Roberta”, said Kerber, who was down 4-5 in the opening set before winning the final nine games. Perhaps the Redskins, who have had to play their third string quarterback in recent years are just playing it safe.
“This time, I got revenge, so I’m really happy”.
Williams, a seven-times grand slam singles victor and twice U.S. Open champion, has enjoyed some recent success, reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the final at Stanford. If Kerber makes the final, Williams will have to win the title to hold on to the top spot.
But now, the Olympian hopes to keep her No. 1 world position against No. 5 holder Simona Halep. Once again she blended power and precision masterfully, with seemingly a few more gears to go through if needed. I think in the second set what I did good was that I played the first few games really tough so that I was up 3-0 very fast.
“I’m still trying to stay focused on match to match”, she said.
There is no doubting the Scot is in the best form of his career and if he continues to impress, there is every chance he might add a second US Open to his Grand Slam resume, which already includes the 2012 title and a pair of Wimbledon titles. Such a feat would place her just one major victory shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record. I definitely want to stick to tennis right now. Like I said, I was really excited to reach that, was it 306? 307?
As for Kerber, she is not allowing herself to think ahead to a potential third Grand Slam final meeting with Serena. “So it’s about one of us playing that game better”. “Maybe that’s the key”, Williams said. “Everyone I’m playing is playing like they’re No. 1”, Williams said.
“She hit a great serve”. It’s great to have her like an idol actually. She has faced just one break point in four matches.
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It was 18 years ago that Williams won her first grand slam match when she beat Irina Spirlea in the opening round of the 1998 Australian Open. You have to see it and believe it before it happens, you know.
