Serena into US Open quarter-finals with record 308th Slam win

September 06, 2016 | 11:29

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NEW YORK: Serena Williams stormed past Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 on Monday (Sep 5), her 308th Grand Slam match win taking her past Roger Federer for most in major tournament history and into the quarter-finals of the US Open.

Serena Williams of US hits a return against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan during the 2016 US Open Women's singles match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York. (EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP)

World number one Williams was never seriously challenged by the 52nd-ranked Kazakh as she stayed on track for a record-breaking seventh US Open crown and 23rd Grand Slam title.

Williams will face Simona Halep for a place in the semi-finals after the Romanian fifth seed dispatched Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 7-5.

"Wow, it's really exciting," Williams said of moving out of a tie with Federer for most Grand Slam match wins. "This is where it all started - 308 sounds pretty good."

Still showing no sign of the sore shoulder that troubled her at the Rio Olympics, Williams fired 11 aces, 28 total winners and had just 13 unforced errors.

She looks to be rounding into her most formidable form, arriving at the business end of the tournament without dropping a set.

Not only has she not dropped her serve, she has only faced one break point in four matches.

Men’s fourth round:

Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG) bt Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6-3, 3-2 - retired
Stan Wawrinka (SUI3) bt Illya Marchenko (UKR) 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3
Kei Nishikori (JPN) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)

Women’s fourth round:

Serena Williams (USA) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 6-2, 6-3
Simona Halep (ROM) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 6-2, 7-5
Karolina Pliskova (CZE) bt Venus Williams (USA) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)

AFP

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