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.
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Halep advanced to the round of 16 but had to rally from 3-1 down in the third set to get past 31st-seeded Timea Babos of Hungaria 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
“I still can not believe it”, she said. That was pretty cool for me.
Williams will go for number 308 and a step closer to what would be a record seventh US Open title when she meets Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, a 6-2 7-5 victor over China’s Zhang Shuai, in round four.
Venus Williams moved within two wins of a possible sisterly showdown with Serena in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open by beating German 26th seed Laura Siegemund to reach the fourth round on Saturday.
Serena Williams came to NY with concerns about her sore right shoulder and has answered those questions, emphatically.
The world number one has not only moved ahead of Martina Navratilova record but also has tied, Swiss tennis ace, Roger Federer’s record.
She’s more mature, both mentally and physically, Sevastova said. “I m doing a lot of work on it so I can keep it in this position”.
“Each number I’m definitely most proud of”.
The American powered to 4-1 lead in no time before breaking to love for a 5-1 advantage that became the set when Larsson fired a backhand long and Williams will next meet Yaroslava Shvedova after she beat China’s Shuai Zhang 6-2 7-5.
“I had to stop rushing”, said Murray, who arrived at the year s final Grand Slam off victories at Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics and may have expected less from Lorenzi, the 34-year-old who only won a first ATP title in July. “It was a very solid effort”.
“I was looking for those cheap points too often”.
“When I slowed down, the unforced errors went down, and the winners went up”.
Murray took a 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Paolo Lorenzi.
“Well, the thing is, you never really reach ideal, so that’s why you always go back to practice (laughter). That’s where I want to be every single time”. Finally, Simona Halep, the fifth seed, will face No. 11 Carla Suarez Navarro to wrap up the fourth round for the women.
He next faces eighth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem, who celebrated his 23rd birthday with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. Dan Evans of Britain faded in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 loss to No. 3 Stan Wawrinka.
This is the 14th time she has reached last 16 at Flushing Meadows.
The sight of yet another Williams blowout victory over yet another overmatched opponent – Saturday’s 60-minute 6-2, 6-1 annihilation of Sweden’s Johanna Larsson in the U.S. Open third round in Arthur Ashe Stadium a case in point – makes it easy not to appreciate properly her incredible accomplishments and sustained greatness.
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Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine awaits in the fourth round for the Swiss.
