Serena Williams broke through another barrier on Monday, her 308th Grand Slam match win taking her past Roger Federer for the most in major tournaments and into the quarter-finals of the US Open.
“Wow, it’s really exciting,” Williams said of moving out of a tie with Swiss great Federer for most Grand Slam match wins.
“This is where it all started so it’s always so magical out here for me — 308 sounds pretty good.”
As Williams, never seriously challenged in a 6-2, 6-3 victory over 52nd-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova, sailed on, one of the two players with a chance to topple her from the world number one spot in this tournament bowed out as fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska was shocked by 18-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh.
The 6-4, 6-4 triumph avenged a bitter disappointment for Konjuh, who held three match points against Radwanska in the second round at Wimbledon before falling 9-7 in the third round after stepping on a ball and turning her ankle.
“She’s an incredible player and I’m just happy to have the opportunity to play her again,” Konjuh said. “This time I got the revenge.”
The teenager showed remarkable poise throughout the match that closed out the night session on the cavernous Arthur Ashe stadium.
Even when the public address system blared out accidentally as she prepared to serve early in the final game she wasn’t rattled.
“I just said to myself stay in the game don’t rush,” Konjuh said. “I remember at Wimbledon I had match points there and I thought I’m not going to do that here. I’m not going to let that opportunity go.”
Williams will have a day off before tackling Simona Halep after the fifth-seeded Romanian’s 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
Despite injury fears sparked by the sore shoulder that hampered her at the Rio Olympics Williams has barely been challenged since arriving at Flushing Meadows, where she claimed the first of her six US Open titles in 1999.
She has reached the business end of the tournament without dropping a set or indeed even dropping her serve. She has faced just one break point in four matches.
A seventh US Open title would take her past the record she shares with Chris Evert, and would also break the Open Era record she shares with Steffi Graf of 22 Grand Slam crowns.
Halep, beaten in seven of eight prior encounters with Williams, was already bracing for the challenge.
“She’s like the best player in the world. I don’t have to be afraid or to have emotions because I have nothing to lose,” Halep said. “It’s just a huge challenge for me.”
The tantalizing prospect of a semi-final clash between Williams and her sister Venus evaporated as the elder Williams fell to hard-hitting Czech Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
In her first Grand Slam quarter-final, Pliskova will take on Konjuh. Despite her entrenched position in the top 20 the Czech had never made it past the third round in a major in 17 prior tries.
Konjuh, in contrast, has made the quarters for the first time in her ninth Grand Slam.

Kerber into second US Open semi-final

AFP/New York

Angelique Kerber reached her second US Open semi-final yesterday with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over 2015 runner-up Roberta Vinci which also edged her closer to the world number one spot.
The German second seed showed remarkable powers of resilience to retrieve three breaks of serve against the Italian 33-year-old in the first set.
She will face either two-time runner-up Caroline Wozniacki or shock quarter-finalist Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia for a place in Saturday’s championship match.
In a powerful demonstration of her title credentials, 28-year-old Australian Open champion Kerber wrapped up the second set by allowing Vinci just five points on her serve.
“It’s always tough to play Roberta, she always comes out to play great tennis,” said Kerber, who last made the semi-finals in New York in 2011.
“I am happy to win in two sets which means a lot to me.”
Kerber could dethrone Serena Williams, who she has already faced in the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals this year, on top of the world rankings if results go her way.
But she insists she is not looking that far ahead.
“I try to stay in the moment, be positive and go match by match,” said the world number two.
Vinci, bothered by a foot injury this tournament and playing with her left calf strapped yesterday, was ahead with a break on three occasions in the opening set for leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4.
But Kerber kept reining her in and with the seventh break in 12 games, the German took the opener after 54 minutes when Vinci was called for a foot fault.
The Italian aimed sarcastic applause and a thumbs-up at the impassive line judge, but the veteran never regained her composure as she garnered just 10 points in a 24-minute second set.