Williams beat Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, 6-2, 6-1, in the third round of the U.S. Open to become the all-time leader in women’s singles career Grand Slam match wins.
Advertisement
Larsson, who equaled her career-best finish at the U.S. Open by virtue of defeating Denisa Allertova in the second round, proved just why she is now in the midst of a career-best season, getting on the scoreboard a game later, much to the delight of a very appreciative crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The German, who struggle with her serve all night, nearly got to within a game of Williams.
Pliskova’s straight-sets win ensured she reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time in her career.
Serena has now surpassed the Martina Navratilova for winning the Grand Slam for the massive telly of 307 by a woman.
“It was a really good match for me, because she played a different kind of game”, Williams said. That was pretty cool for me.
The world No 1 is chasing a seventh US Open title that would give her an Open-era record of 23 Grand Slam titles, one more than Steffi Graf, and having eased through her first two matches at Flushing Meadows it was more of the same on Saturday.
Serena was the overwhelming favorite on the odds coming into this year’s U.S. Open tournament at +130 on the money line.
Now Williams moves into the business end of the tournament, where a fourth-round meeting awaits with the Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova, who saw off China’s Zhang Shuai earlier on Saturday. She was hitting very strong, so it was a good challenge for me and it was a good match.
“It definitely feels solid”, she said.
She disposed of Patricia Tig in round one 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and followed that up with a commanding performance against Nicole Gibbs in a easy 6-3, 7-5 win.
Halep is due to go up against Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, with Radwanska due to face Ana Konjuh of Croatia.
“I knew at Wimbledon that I wanted to get there”.
After the match, Halep said she wasn’t able to move well because of a back problem.
And most disconcerting for the remaining field is the sense that Williams, Saturday’s masterclass notwithstanding, has only scratched the surface of her potential so far.
Suarez Navarro defeated 20th-seeded Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3, the third time she has reached the fourth round or better at Flushing Meadows. In her previous matchup, Serena took down Vania King of the United States, 6-3, 6-3.
Advertisement
Fifth seed Simona Halep of Romania made hard work of her encounter with Hungary’s Timea Babos before eventually ending on the right side of a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 scoreline, while Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded fourth, beat Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-3.
