And they all came against players ranked among the top 31 in the world – most notably Stan Wawrinka. Only four other matches this tournament have lasted longer.
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“Wow. That’s pretty awesome and honestly what a better place to do it than here, where it all started”, Williams told an adoring Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
World number one Williams dominated Swedens Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-1 to surpass Martina Navratilova for most Grand Slam wins by a woman with 307 matches. It was really good for me to have a different type of rhythm and just to move around.
Wearing pink sleeves and a white top and pink and white pleated skire, Williams overpowered Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, 6-2, 6-1.
On Saturday, Williams expended nearly as much energy playing advocate as she did in her hourlong win over Larsson. If the sisters meet in the last four, they would meet again in the tennis Grand Slam in New York for the second straight year.
In that half of the draw, only the players with the last name Williams have won a Grand Slam title.
The 22-time grand-slam champion wasted no time on Saturday, claiming the opening set in just 37 minutes as she produced 13 winners.
Its always good to win by saving match point.
Venus, who is the sixth seed at the US Open this year, had a trouble in her first match against Kateryna Koslova, just edging past the Ukrainian 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in a thrilling match.
“It definitely feels solid”, she said.
Seeded No. 1, Williams is one trophy away from winning her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, which would break a tie with Steffi Graf for the most championships in the Open era.
The No. 6-seeded Williams broke Siegemund six of the eight times she served and won despite producing only 11 winners Saturday night.
“To be up there with both men and women is something that’s super rare, ” Williams said.
Despite an error-strewn performance, Andy Murray downed Paolo Lorenzi 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 to book a fourth-round meeting with Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
On Saturday, the US Open set a single-session attendance record.
Kei Nishikori of Japan will face big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic after he beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
Fifth-seeded Simona Halep smashed her racket in frustration en route to a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, third-round victory over 34th-ranked Timea Babos at the U.S. Open.
But Babos, unable to convert two game points in the 10th, finally surrendered with a whimper with a double fault on match point.
Last year, the pressure of trying to complete the calendar year Grand Slam was nearly overwhelming; this time, she is more relaxed and the shoulder problems she had coming into the event seem to be holding up.
From there, the set would go with serve until the eighth game where Williams unsurprisingly began to take a stand from the receiving end once more, withstanding some inspired play from the Swede to eventually seal the opener, 6-2.
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Halep, whose best Grand Slam result was a run to the French Open final in 2014, next takes on 11th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro for a spot in the quarterfinals.
