Serena bested Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-1 in their third round matchup.
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Williams arrived at Flushing Meadows a year ago on the cusp of claiming a calendar slam and the weight of expectation was crushing, the pressure mounting with each match until a shock loss to Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals. “So far, so good”. Del Potro has been surging all year, culminating in a silver medal victory at the Rio Olympics.
Two-time US Open champion Venus Williams enjoyed a straight sets win to put herself back in the fourth round. That’s because 19-year-old qualifier Jared Donaldson’s run ended with a straight-set loss to 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic, the oldest man to reach the fourth round in NY since Jimmy Connors was 39 in 1991.
Top-seeded Serena Williams is feeling and playing like Wonder Woman – wearing neon pink sleeves – and hasn’t lost her serve in three matches here.
America loves underdogs, which is what is what made it sometimes hard to root for Woods and makes it hard for us to embrace Williams – because she is bigger, stronger and more talented than pretty much everyone she plays.
The world No 1 is chasing a seventh US Open title that would give her an Open-era record of 23 Grand Slam titles, one more than Steffi Graf, and having eased through her first two matches at Flushing Meadows it was more of the same on Saturday.
But she wilted under the raw power of Williams, who forced her into 32 errors and was gifted with 26 unforced miscues in the 78-minute match. “It’s just taking one step at a time”.
“My first round, I don’t know, I never hit so many overheads and swing volleys in my life”, she said.
Tsurenko, the world 99, made the last 16 at a Slam for the first time by beating 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Play on Monday will begin at 11 a.m. ET.
Thiem will play the victor of the match later Saturday between Juan Martin del Potro and 11th-seeded David Ferrer.
“Obviously with her it’s tough”, Pliskova said of Williams.
But Babos, unable to convert two game points in the 10th, finally surrendered with a whimper with a double fault on match point.
“That’s pretty awesome and what a place to do it, where everything first started”, the 34-year-old Williams, who clinched her maiden Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 1999, said.
Suarez Navarro next faces the victor of the match that has gone into a third set between fifth-seeded Simona Halep and 31st-seeded Timea Babos.
Next up for Halep is 11th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro who advanced with a tidy 6-4 6-3 win over Russian Elena Vesnina. Sister Venus, the sixth seed and oldest woman in the tournament at 36, plays later in Ashe against 26th-seeded Laura Siegemund of Germany.
Two past men’s champions, Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro, moved into the fourth round.
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Big things were expected from the Nick Kyrgios, but a hip injury forced him to retire from his match against Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko.
