Serena Williams continues to make her way to what would be her 24th Grand Slam, with which the legendary Margaret Court would tie. For this, he had in front of the Greek Maria Sakkari, who dismounted her two weeks ago from the Cincinnati Masters 1,000. Serena took to the track with the lesson learned from the last confrontation between the two, and this time she was able to score the victory for 6-3, 6-7 (6) and 6-3. If three games ago Serena broke the record for most victories at the US Open (She is now 105), today the American achieved a new milestone: she added her 100th victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams had to work a lot in the first set. You could tell he respected Sakkari, who reached the second round of his career for the second time in his career. The Greek was very successful with her serve (13 aces), but Serena managed to steal his service once to win the first set. In the second set, equality continued to reign. Williams had to save with his serve two set balls against, and another two in the tie break, but on the fifth, Sakkari put the equalizer on the scoreboard. Mal started the final set for Serena, who gave up her first service game. The Greek was very aggressive throughout the match (35 winners to Williams' 30), and Serena began to suffer physically, especially because of the lung problems he suffers. But that's where the tennis legend got his claw, who came back from the set and ended up taking revenge on Sakkari in almost two and a half hours of the game. Since 2007 (she did not participate in two editions), Serena has never missed the US Open quarterfinals.
Precisely in quarters, her rival will be the surprising Tsvetana Pironkova. The Bulgarian defeated Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round in her first tournament since 2017, when she left tennis to have her first child. On her return to the slopes, Pironkova, who is unranked, is leaving everyone stunned. This time, The Bulgarian, who also beat Vekic, beat Alizé Cornet 6-4, 6-7 (5) and 6-3 in almost three hours of the match. The Frenchwoman played her first round of 16 at a US Open in 14 participations, but did not know how to take advantage of 50 unforced errors by Pironkova, who The 32-year-old is reaching a career Grand Slam quarter-final for the fourth time in his career. In this way, the confrontation between Pironkova and Serena is presented as one of the main attractions in the next round of the US Open.