Serena Williams leads the head-to-head 18-12 against Venus Williams. (Source: AP)
Serena Williams kept booming big shots for winners, never allowing herself to feel sorry for the overmatched player on the other side. So what if it happened to be her big sister?
The Williams sisters, long ago in careers that have spanned 20 years and 30 meetings as professionals, learned they had to view each other only as opponents – and in Serena’s eyes, Venus is the best one she’s ever played.
“Even though it’s difficult, especially for me,” Serena said, “we just do the best that we can.”
On Friday, it was perhaps the best she’s ever done against Venus.
Serena equaled her most-lopsided victory against her sister with a 6-1, 6-2 rout in the third round of the US Open.
Serena shook off an early ankle injury to win seven straight games and seize control in perhaps her most dominant performance since giving birth to her daughter a year ago Saturday.
The sisters’ earliest meeting in a Grand Slam tournament in 20 years was over early, with Venus unable to do anything to blunt Serena’s power, even after the fans that were part of Friday’s single-day record crowd of 70,162 tried desperately to get behind her with pleas of “Come on, Venus!” early in the second set.
“I think it’s by far the best match I ever played against her in forever,” Serena said of the match that lasted just 1 hour, 12 minutes. “But I don’t know about ever, ever. It probably was. I played much better tonight than I have since I started this journey on my way back.”
“It’s not easy,” Serena said, despite how easy it looked in a match that lasted just 1 hour, 12 minutes.
They hadn’t played this early in a Grand Slam since Venus won in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open in their first meeting as pros, and only once over the next two decades had either won so decisively. Serena won by the same score in a semifinal victory in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2013.
“I think it’s the best match she’s ever played against me,” Venus said. “I don’t think I did a lot wrong. But she just did everything right.”
Serena, the No. 17 seed, will face Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who knocked out top-ranked Simona Halep in the first round.
Serena, who turns 37 next month, leads the series 18-12 with her sister, 11-5 in Grand Slam tournaments. But this one wasn’t expected to be so easy, not with Serena still working her way back into form after returning to the tour in the spring.
But this was the type of tennis that has brought her to 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the ability to pound balls all over the court and chase down the rare shots that looked like they might get past her.
“Obviously that level is definitely where she’s going to want to stay during this whole tournament,” Venus said.
Serena pounded 10 aces to just one for Venus, the No. 16 seed who was perhaps a little drained after two tough matches to begin the tournament, including a three-setter against 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in her opener.
Serena had an easier time in the first two rounds, though that was expected to change Friday under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium. They had combined for eight titles in Flushing Meadows, six by Serena, and each had beaten the other in a US Open final.
But there was no beating Serena on this night, and the discouraged look on Venus’ face across much of the match indicated she seemed to realize it.
“I mean, she played so well, I never got to really even touch any balls,” said Venus, a semifinalist at the US Open last year. “When your opponent plays like that, it’s not really anything to be upset about.”
It looked as if Serena could have trouble when, in the second game of the match, her right ankle turned awkwardly when Venus hit behind her on a shot. Serena stood near the baseline with her back to the court for quite a few seconds, then motioned to the chair umpire that she wanted to the see the trainer at the next changeover.
Serena had the ankle treated with a 2-1 lead, then broke in the next game, helped when Venus missed an easy swinging volley wide. She would break again for a 5-1 lead, then pound two aces in the next service game to wrap up the first set in 31 minutes.
Sloane Stephens fends off Victoria Azarenka to continue bid for second US Open
Sloane Stephens came off a straight sets win over Victoria Azarenka under the roof. (Source: USA TODAY SPORTS)
US Open champion Sloane Stephens kept alive her bid for back-to-back titles in New York on Friday, defeating former world number one Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-4 in a gritty match to set up a fourth-round showdown with Elise Mertens.
The third-seeded American was the sharper of the pair at the outset, firing nine winners and fending off Azarenka’s lone break-point opportunity to take the first set in a little over half an hour.
But two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka raised her game in the second set, battling back from a 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead, much to the chagrin of the partisan New York crowd.
A break in the action to close the roof on Arthur Ashe court appeared to bolster Stephens, who tightened up her defense and broke the big-serving Belarusian for a fifth time with a forehand winner to ward off the comeback and go through.
“When things got tough I hung in there,” Stephens, who is the highest remaining seed in the women’s draw, said in an on-court interview. “You guys helped a lot,” she told the crowd.
A dejected Azarenka said she was disappointed with aspects of her performance.
“At this stage, it’s a matter of one, two points, and today I just need to cut down my unforced errors,” Azarenka told reporters.
“Those unforced errors that come out, right now they are costing me matches.”
Azarenka committed 27 unforced errors, while Stephens had 17.
“The fight was good throughout,” Stephens told reporters.
She acknowledged she was a “little rocky in the second set” but was satisfied to have “played a solid match”.
Stephens will look for redemption when she faces Mertens on Sunday after losing to the Belgian at the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month.
Elina Svitolina downs Wang Qiang to reach fourth round
Seventh seed Elina Svitolina easily dispatched China’s Wang Qiang 6-4 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the second year running.
The Ukrainian won 70 percent of her first serve points and converted all five of her break point opportunities to see off world number 52 Wang, who committed 27 unforced errors and three double faults on a cloudy day at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Wang broke at the start of the second set to put pressure on the 23-year-old but the speedy Svitolina would not be denied and hit a crosscourt forehand volley on match point to advance.
“For me it was very important to take one point at a time and always put pressure because the last time I played her, I lost the second set because I was a little bit inconsistent with my game,” Svitolina told reporters.
She said her game is improving each round as she becomes more battle-tested in New York, where she hopes to win her first Grand Slam title.
“From the beginning I think I was getting better and better,” she said. “Each match gave me a different look on my game. I’m working really hard on day offs on my game to be ready for the matches.”
Next up for Svitolina is a fourth-round clash with 19th-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova on Sunday.