Serena Williams broke the women’s record for most grand slam singles wins as the American cruised past Johanna Larsson and into the US Open last 16.
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Siegemund saved the set point in style with a forehand down the line, Williams responded by finding another set point with a good first serve down the middle and converted the second set point to seal the opening set 6-1, in 34 minutes with a backhand error. That’s what I care about, that I know that I can do it.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I have a new goal!’ That was pretty cool for me”.
Obviously I want to keep that number going higher, added Williams, who will get her chance when she takes on Kazakhstans Yaroslava Shvedova for a quarterfinal berth.
The American is aiming to win a 23rd Grand Slam singles title, which would make her surpass Steffi Graf as the most successful female tennis athlete in the Open Era.
But the U.S. superstar has been slowed by a right shoulder injury since her Wimbledon triumph.
Williams won the first three games of the first set, and Larsson could never find a break, as the world number one cantered out to the lead.
“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.
“Just doing what I have to do, being able to dominate when I need to”, Williams told reporters.
She could meet her sister Venus in the semi-finals, after the 36-year-old moved within two wins of a possible showdown by beating German Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-2 to reach the fourth round.
“That’s pretty awesome and what a place to do it (The US Open), where everything first started”. “I was looking for those cheap points too often”.
‘So it’s proved that I love this clearly enough to go through this.
A third British man, Dan Evans, came within a point of also making the fourth round but failed to complete what would have been a significant upset, fading in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (8), 6-2 loss to No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. Something I didn’t even know about until Wimbledon. “I was fighting to the very end for every ball”.
But Babos, unable to convert two game points in the 10th, finally surrendered with a whimper with a double fault on match point.
Suarez, also celebrating a birthday Saturday as she turned 28, defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3.
Olympic champion Andy Murray recovered from a blip in the second set of his clash with Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi, the world number 40, to seal a 7-6, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 success.
Radwanska’s fourth-round opponent will be Croatia’s Ana Konjuh, who outlasted American Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
For her first day match on Arthur Ashe, Williams switched from evening black to afternoon white but the change in attire did nothing to change the outcome.
Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine awaits in the fourth round for the Swiss.
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Former champion Juan Martin del Potro, in the fourth round for the first time since 2012 after three operations on his left wrist, plays eighth seed Dominic Thiem.
