Seeded No. 1, Williams is one trophy away from winning her 23d Grand Slam singles title, which would break a tie with Steffi Graf for the most championships in the Open era.
Advertisement
On Saturday, history can be made at Flushing Meadows with Serena Williams going for her 307th Grand Slam win when she takes on Sweden’s Johanna Larsson for a place in the last 16.
The sixth-seeded Williams navigated herself past a potentially tricky opponent in No. 26 seed Laura Siegemund in the third round meeting on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Shvedova is best known for the first “golden set” in the Open era, which began in 1968: She won all 24 points of the first set in a victory over Sara Errani at Wimbledon in 2012, one match before a three-set loss to Williams there.
“It definitely feels solid”, she said of the shoulder, which didn t appear to trouble her in the one hour she needed to subdue Larsson.
“I was really excited to reach that, was it 306? 307?”
After the historic win Serena said she just wants to keep the streak going.
That sounds like bad news for upcoming opponents, starting with 52nd-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova, who advanced to the round of 16 in NY for the first time by beating Zhang Shuai 6-2, 7-5.
And most disconcerting for the remaining field is the sense that Williams, Saturday’s masterclass notwithstanding, has only scratched the surface of her potential so far. His best result at a major event this year was reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. It, too, would give her seven U.S. Open titles, surpassing Chris Evert’s record of six.
In the fourth round, Serena, the top seed in this tournament and world number on, will face Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and Venus will face Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic.
But she rebounded well with her win over Belinda Bencic in round three and everything we have seen from Konta here and throughout the year would suggest she is well capable of booking a place in the last eight.
Larsson fell behind quickly as Williams broke her at the first opportunity and again to close out the first set. She’s serving pretty well both serves, playing aggressive on the return.
World number 48 Sevastova, who briefly retired in 2013, has matched her best run at a Slam and next faces British 13th seed Johanna Konta who put out Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-1.
Serena and Venus have been pictured preparing for their respective US Open fourth round matches side by side at Flushing Meadows.
“It was really tough”, Halep said.
Advertisement
Wawrinka, a two-time Grand Slam victor and twice a semifinalist in NY, had the closest call, saving a match-point in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (8), 6-2 victory over Britain’s Dan Evans in a four-hour epic. “So I know everything can happen and I can play really good and I can beat those guys”, Marchenko said, although he’s well aware of the arsenal of “unbelievable shots and unbelievable attacks” the immensely talented but mercurial Kyrgios can unleash.
