Williams earned her historic 308th Grand Slam match win by besting Yaroslava Shvedova on Monday.
Serena Williams earned her 308th Grand Slam match win, the most of any player in tennis history, on Monday. She was playing in Round of 16 action at the US Open against Yaroslava Shvedova, and she didn't take long to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals.
Williams downed Shvedova in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 in a match that lasted just over one hour. Williams hit 11 aces, won 93 percent of her first serves and hit 28 winners to Shvedova's 11. Williams didn't play as well as she could have though, as she only converted on three of her eight break point attempts.
Whatever the case, Williams is going strong and has looked better than she has in a long time at the US Open. Going into the tournament her No. 1 ranking was up for grabs with three women able to take it. Angelique Kerber, the second seed and Agnieszka Radwanska, the fourth seed, were two of them and they are both still in the tournament.
Williams is obviously not going to just hand over her ranking though, and she'll be a force to be reckoned with for either player. Radwanska could face Williams in the semifinals, though she has to reach the quarterfinals first. Her Round of 16 match against Ana Konjuh is set for Monday evening, the final match from Arthur Ashe Stadium on the day.
Venus Williams, Serena's sister, has been playing well since she struggled big time at the Rio Olympics, but her run at the US Open ended on Monday. Karolina Pliskova, the 10th seed, downed Venus, the sixth seed, in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3). It's a disappointing result for Venus, who is older than Serena and is exiting her prime.
Also in women's action, Simona Halep, the fifth seed, downed Carla Suarez Navarro, the 11th seed, in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, on Monday.
On the men's side, unseeded Juan Martin Del Potro continued his run with a win over eighth seed Dominic Thiem. Del Potro, the silver medalist at the Rio Olympics, won the US Open in 2009 but has struggled since then. His recent play has been particularly elevated, however, and he looked great against Thiem until his opponent retired in the second set due to injury. Officially, Del Potro won by a score of 6-3, 3-2.
Stan Wawrinka, the third seed at the US Open, needed four sets to advance but he managed it against Illya Marchenko, winning 6-4, 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3. Kei Nishikori, the sixth seed, and Andy Murray, the second seed, also have matches on Monday but they are not yet complete. We'll update when the rest of the big singles matches from Monday finish up.
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