US Open: Milestone Serena moves to last-16

As in the majority of her victories at the majors, Williams operated with ruthless efficiency but displayed little fire as she coolly dispatched the 47th-ranked Swede in exactly one hour. The win moved the 34-year-old American past Martina Navratilova and level with Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam victories by a man or woman. “Wow. That’s pretty awesome and honestly what a better place to do it than here, where it all started,” Williams told an adoring Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. 

“It is actually a really good feeling. To be up there with both men and women is something that’s super rare.” It was at Flushing Meadows where Williams won her first grand slam in 1999 and 17 years later it is where she could achieve two more career landmarks if she can reach the winner’s circle again on Sept. 10. A record seventh U.S. Open title would give Williams 23 career grand slams, moving her past Steffi Graf again for the most in the Open Era, and just one shy of Margaret Court who tops the all-time list with 24. “Each number I’m definitely proud of,” said Williams. “I was really excited to 307. I was really excited to do that.” Williams will go for win number 308 on Monday when she meets Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, a 6-2 7-5 winner over China’s Zhang Shuai, in round four.

Flummoxed and frustrated by wily veteran Paolo Lorenzi for two sets, second seed Andy Murray changed tactics and beat the 34-year-old Italian to advance to the fourth round. Murray was moping and muttering to himself as he pressed for winners against the steady Italian and piled up unforced errors before deciding to patiently play long rallies that enabled him to secure a 7-6(4) 5-7 6-2 6-3 win. 

India’s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna progressed with their respective partners but Leander Paes’ campaign ended after the veteran suffered a second-round defeat with Martina Hingis in mixed doubles at the US Open.

Sania and Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic advanced to the third round of the women’s doubles after a 6-2, 7-6(5) win over Viktorija Golubic and Nicole Melichar. The seventh seeded pair will now meet unseeded Nicole Gibbs and Nao Hibino next. Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski defeated Lukasz Kubot and Andrea Hlavackova 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 to move into the quarterfinals. The pair will next meet unseeded pair of Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Gr nefeld. However, defending champions Paes and Hingis lost to American seventh seeds Coco Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram 7-6 (1), 3-6, 13-11 after leading 8-4 in the match tiebreaker at Flushing Meadows. The defeat marked the end of Paes’ US Open campaign.