Williams became the most winningest woman in Open Era history with grand slam victory number 307 after defeating Johanna Larsson 6-2 6-1 in the third round of the US Open on Saturday. The women’s tennis superstar has now surpassed the great Martina Navratilova with major win No. 307 for her career.
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Despite battling a shoulder injury, Williams took home her seventh Wimbledon singles title in July to tie Graf’s career Grand Slam record.
While Williams encountered little resistance as she moved a step closer to an Open Era record of 23 Grand Slam titles – and Margaret Court´s all-time record of 24 – it was another story for the top men´s seeds in action.
“I was lucky to get through, saving match point”, said Wawrinka after reaching the last 16 in Flushing Meadows for a fifth straight year.
After that match, an exhausted Williams sighed, “A win’s a win”, revealing more and more what an emotionally debilitating pursuit the chase for the Grand Slam was becoming.
Williams, a seven-times grand slam singles victor and twice US Open champion, has enjoyed some recent success, reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the final at Stanford.
Halep stormed through the first set with an impressive display, only to be pegged back but her Hungarian opponent whose fearsome groundstrokes brought her back into the back with the second set and a 2-0 lead in the decider.
Williams advanced easily after seeing off fellow American Vania King 6-3, 6-3 in NY on Thursday.
The No. 6-seeded Williams broke Siegemund six of the eight times she served and won despite producing only 11 winners Saturday night. “I felt like I didn’t play my best but I was fighting to the end for every ball”, she said.
“I was making a lot of unforced errors and (Lorenzi) is very solid, and doesn t give you cheap points”, Murray said. “It’s something I didn’t even know about until Wimbledon – it was like a new goal”.
“I really am enjoying the tournament now this year for what it is”.
“So far, so good”, remained Williams’ refrain in regards to her shoulder, which didn’t appear to trouble her in the one hour she needed to subdue Larsson.
Radwanska came into the US Open fresh off the New Haven title the previous week, but looked none worse for the wear.
Serena Williams hits a forehand during her third-round match against Johanna Larsson at the 2016 U.S. Open.
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Karolina Pliskova, the Czech 10th seed, beat 17th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russian Federation 6-2, 6-4, 11th seed Carla Suarez Navarro moved through with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Russia’s Elena Vesnina (19) and Croatia’s Ana Konjuh won a battle of the unseeded players, beating American Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
