Andy Murray’s hard-fought 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over Paolo Lorenzi meant that for the first time in the Open era, there will be two British men in the round of 16 stage.
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“That’s pretty awesome and what a place to do it, where everything first started”, said the 34-year-old Serena won her first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 1999.
That’s because it’ll take five more victories to win the championship, which would be her seventh at the U.S. Open and 23rd overall at majors, breaking Steffi Graf’s Open-era record in that category.
The 307th Grand Slam win moves Williams into the fourth round of the U.S. Open. From match point, the third-seeded Wawrinka fought his way back in the game despite suffering an ankle injury during the game to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (8), 6-2.
Pliskova showed her prowess last month by winning the title in Cincinnati, where she beat Angelique Kerber in the final to deprive the German of overtaking Serena as world number one.
America loves underdogs, which is what is what made it sometimes hard to root for Woods and makes it hard for us to embrace Williams – because she is bigger, stronger and more talented than pretty much everyone she plays.
“I don’t know how I came back”.
As in the majority of her victories at the majors, Williams operated with ruthless efficiency but displayed little fire as she coolly dispatched the 47th-ranked Swede in exactly one hour.
The fluorescent pink sleeves, she said, make her think of the superhero characters Wonder Woman and Superwoman. For me, one of the best players to ever play tennis. “I hope she keeps going for a few more years”.
From my days as a player and a coach, I found it’s always good to remind yourself that there are always going to be ups and downs in sport, but the key is to stay in the present.
Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska reached the US Open last 16 for the fifth time with a 6-2, 6-3 win over France’s Caroline Garcia. “It was really good for me to have a different type of rhythm and just move the ball around”.
Meanwhile, there has been a lot of attention on world No. 3 and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza at the US Open after she lost to Anastasija Sevastova from Latvia in the second round.
Wawrinka next faces 63rd-ranked Ukrainian Illya Marchenko, who advanced when a hurting Nick Kyrgios, hobbled by a painful right hip, retired while trailing 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Halep will play the 11th-seeded Carla Suarez-Navarro for a spot in the quarterfinals after Suarez-Navarro beat 19th-seeded Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday.
The Spanish 11th seed never looked in any trouble and despite being broken when serving for the match, she recovered to seal her place in the last 16 when she will face Simona Halep after the Romanian survived an epic battle with Timea Babos that took 2hrs 8mins on Arthur Ashe.
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Halep next plays 11th-seeded of Span, a 6-4, 6-3 victor over 19th-seeded Elena Vesnina of Russian Federation.
