Much will depend on Williams’ health and also her mental focus, according to Evert, who retired at the age of 34.
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No, she’s not on pace for a Grand Slam, but she can win her 23rd major title in the Open Era, which would surpass Graf’s 22. I feel really good about it.
“At the Olympics, I just practiced two days before playing my match”, she said.
The US superstar is seeking to add a second major title of 2016 to the Wimbledon crown she won in July.
Murray begins his US Open campaign on Tuesday against world number 82 Lukas Rosol and he arguably starts as tournament favourite after winning both Wimbledon and an Olympic gold medal this summer.
Williams is recovering from a sore right shoulder that forced her to withdraw from a Cincinnati event last week.
“But I’m doing everything in my power with the medical team to make sure that I’m as close to 100 per cent as possible during the course of this tournament, at least for the beginning of it”.
Before the floodlights came up, Serena’s elder sister Venus claimed a Grand Slam record of her own as her 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova marked her 72nd appearance in the main draw of a major. “But there is nothing we can do about it”. “Hopefully just every day I will keep going higher”. “That’s all I can do now”. Ekaterina Makarova, a player who owns a victory over her at the 2012 Australian Open, is a unsafe unseeded player who can cause problems. You will never see her revert to a different strategy, which some argue is part of her downfall at times.
Williams, whose status as world number one is under attack from several fronts, delivered a message that she will not be surrendering the top spot without a fight, needing just 63 minutes to dispatch the 29th-ranked Russian.
“I’m OK with it”, Williams said.
Murray has played in all of the first three finals of the majors in 2016, losing to world number one Djokovic in Melbourne and Paris before defeating Milos Raonic in straight sets in the Wimbledon final.
While Williams has struggled since beating Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final, Murray has gone from strength to strength since capturing his second title at the All England Club. “I play for Germany and there’s no question about me not being German”.
Vinci – who went on to lose in the final to fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta – entered last year’s tournament facing odds of 300-1 to win it. Serena had been 43-1 against unseeded opponents at the Open in her career. Both in the men’s and women’s tournament, leaders come under heavy pressure from strong challengers.
The sweet 16th meeting of these true blue tried-and-true vets doesn’t need to be half as good as their last two meetings at majors to be the best match of the day in NY. “I think usually I prefer to play more coming into the final Grand Slam of the year, but there is nothing we can do about it. We will see that when he plays”. His ball-striking is not quite as pure as those other players.
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The women’s singles semifinals will take place at 7:00 p.m. ET on September 8 and the men’s singles semifinals are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET the following day.
