Wawrinka, a two-time Grand Slam victor and twice a semi-finalist in NY, had the closest call, saving a match point in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 victory over Britain’s Dan Evans.
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Next up for Williams is Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep, who beat 11th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5.
Serena’s 308-42 record in Grand Slam matches equates to a winning percentage of almost 91 percent.
This post was syndicated from Punch Newspapers.
The tantalizing prospect of a semi-final clash between Williams and her sister Venus evaporated as the elder Williams fell to hard-hitting Czech Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3). The strategy paid off, as Williams won seven of her eight points at the net.
It’s an historic win for Williams, who now has 308 victories in Grand Slam events, which is the most of the Open Era, per Stuart Fraser of the MailOnline. She reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and made it to the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open. The seeded No. 1 player crushed Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 in a little over an hour.
With another break under her belt Pliskova had a chance to close it out at 6-5, but after surging to a 40-0 lead she lost five straight points as Venus forced the decider.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion is still prone to the occasional hiccup.
The strangest part: They just might keep doing.
“I don’t know. We’ll see”, Williams said during an on-court interview after reaching the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows on Monday.
Happy to have the discussion of her under-performance on the game’s major stages behind her, she remained wary of a possible quarter-final meeting with fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.
Serena Williams sped past another milestone Saturday en route to the US Open fourth round as men’s contenders Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka clawed their way into the last 16. The 31-year-old third seed saved the match point at 5/6 in the fourth set tiebreaker, breaking the will of his 64th-ranked opponent.
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Second-seeded German Angelique Kerber is better still placed to nudge Serena off the summit.
