Rounding out the women’s draw, second seed Angelique Kerber, who almost unseated Williams as world number one but lost in the Cincinnati final, appears to have a comfortable early path. Kerber, who opens against Polona Hercog of Slovenia, is seeded for a quarters clash against seventh seed Roberta Vinci of Italy, who shocked Williams in last year’s Open semi-finals.
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It was a win which came after a dispiriting run at the Slams – a shock semi-final defeat to Roberta Vinci in NY 12 months ago followed by losses in the Australian and French Open finals to Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza respectively.
Ever since she broke through in 2015, reaching the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals, Keys has been widely touted as “the next Serena”.
Williams is seeking her 23rd major title, which would break a tie with Steffi Graf for most in the Open era.
Things haven’t been rosy since.
“I played a lot of matches at night in Cincinnati and the last one at the Olympics, as well and conditions [here] during the day are quite different so I am just trying to get used to that”.
American Sloane Stephens has withdrawn from the U.S. Open because of a right foot injury.
“I have not played a lot, I haven’t practiced a lot, but I’m just now starting to feel a little better”.
“Well, I’m 29. I would imagine if I’m lucky I’d be playing at this level for three, four more years, max, I would think”, said Murray.
“You have to make the most of every opportunity”, he said. “That’s all I can do now”.
Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic secured the top seeds for the 2016 U.S. Open when the draw was revealed Friday. I played against Del Potro, who unfortunately was absent from the tour for the wrist injury himself.
“She’s a big fighter”.
Mattek-Sands won both the Australian and French Open women’s doubles titles previous year but her achievements are less noteworthy in singles, having never gone past the fourth round of a major tournament. You think she’s not super quick, but she is. “I think I try to look at it as we all always have tough matches”.
The top competition for Williams is expected to come from second-seeded Angelique Kerber, third-seeded Garbine Muguruza and fifth-seeded Simona Halep, who are all +800 to win the women’s title on the tennis betting odds at the sportsbooks.
Defending champion, and top seed, Novak Djokovic is favored to win his third U.S. Open title when action gets underway at the USTA Billy Jean King National Tennis Center next week in NY.
Djokovic is seeded to face either Frenchman Richard Gasquet or big-serving American John Isner in the fourth round, with France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or 2014 champion Marin Cilic, who ended Andy Murray’s win streak in the Cincinnati final, as possible quarter-final opponents.
Williams is once again No. 1 on the women’s side as she chases her seventh U.S. Open title. “Hopefully, as I said, physically as well I’ll be enabled to perform my best”.
Her serve, so often problematic in her career, had been shaky in round two of qualifying but it was far more consistent against Maria, delivering 65 per cent at the first attempt and producing only four double faults.
Murray has won both of his previous meetings against world number 82 Rosol but it was their most recent clash in Germany that was particularly memorable.
“At the same time, it’s true I have been injured and Roger, too, no?”
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Djokovic has appeared in the final of the U.S. Open five out of the past six years, finishing as the runner-up three times during that stretch.
