Top-ranked Serena Williams has advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph against Yaroslava Shvedova.
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Williams will have a day off before tackling Simona Halep after the fifth-seeded Romanian’s 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
“She’s an incredible player and I’m just happy to have the opportunity to play her again”, Konjuh said.
“I’ve never served this consistently, ” Serena told the crowd. “If she stays healthy, I think she can still play a few years”.
The possible all-Williams semi-final will not happen after elder sister Venus went out in dramatic fashion, losing 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to Czech 10th seed Karolina Pliskova.
She has reached the business end of the tournament without dropping a set or even her serve.
“To me it doesn’t really matter who I play because I have to expect they’re going to play the match of their life”, she said. The match is expected to be a stern test, as Halep won the Rogers Cup in Montreal during the summer.
Serena Williams prepares to serve to Yaroslava Shvedova, of Kazakhstan, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, in NY. Pliskova double faulted, and Williams hit a backhand volley and a sharp angled backhand victor to get to deuce. Now it’s Halep’s turn to try to deal with the serve of Serena Williams, who reached a tournament-best 126 miles per hour, delivered 11 aces and won 28 of 30 first-serve points against Shvedova. She closed out the match on a service victor.
It has been another dominating run into the last eight for the 34-year-old American, who has yet to be broken and has faced just one break point in four matches while never spending more than 68 minutes on court. “I think it’s really exciting”.
‘Yeah, I think everything just kind of worked out the way it was supposed to, even though I probably didn’t want to be injured, I didn’t want to have those surgeries.
“That’s a balance that you make when you play the kind of game that I play”. Williams would also break her six-title tie with Chris Evert for most U.S. Open titles won. Radwanska also has a shot at No. 1, as well, though the Pole must win the title outright.
Despite the impressive numbers there have been hiccups this season: shock defeats in the finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, a shoulder injury that hampered her after Wimbledon.
Watt returned to practice Monday for the first time since back surgery in July and coach Bill O’Brien said after practice that he would play.
It took her a while to finish off this one, despite going up an early break in the third set and leading 4-2.
Serena Williams carved out another slice of history last night when she overtook Roger Federer’s record of match wins at Grand Slams.
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“She’s the best player in the world”, said Halep.
