Serena Williams breaks record for Grand Slam wins

Yet to drop a set at the year’s final major, Williams racked up four breaks of serve to move level with Roger Federer on 307 grand slam wins – taking her past Martina Navratilova in the process.

The world No 1 is chasing a seventh US Open title that would give her an Open-era record of 23 Grand Slam titles, one more than Steffi Graf, and having eased through her first two matches at Flushing Meadows it was more of the same on Saturday.

“To be up there with both men and women is something that’s super rare, and it actually feels really good”. I just have to serve well. Longevity, that already goes unsaid. “It was a tough battle and I’m happy to get through”. Would like to take one more step, several more steps. It was really good for me to have a different type of rhythm and just to move around. “Looking at it now, I can say that it definitely feels like a Wonder Woman or a Superwoman, and like a really powerful, strong character that is strong but yet isn’t afraid to be soft at the same time”. “It s something I didn t even know about until Wimbledon – it was like a new goal”.

“That was pretty cool for me”, said Serena.

Williams arrived at the year’s final grand slam with concerns swirling around a sore shoulder that hampered her at the Rio Olympics and forced her to pull out of a tournament in Cincinnati.

“I don’t know how I came back”, said Halep, who lost only a game in the first set before the wheels came off and Babos eventually double-faulted on match point to hand over an ugly victory.

On Saturday, Williams expended nearly as much energy playing advocate as she did in her hourlong win over Larsson.

Appearing in a day match for the first time at this year’s tournament in New York, Williams wore a new white outfit that made a fashion statement with bold, pink sleeves. A set and 4-1 to the good, the world number one was simply not content with a single-break advantage and was quick to pounce on any look at a second, which she would take at the first time of asking to take a commanding 5-1 lead.

America loves underdogs, which is what is what made it sometimes hard to root for Woods and makes it hard for us to embrace Williams – because she is bigger, stronger and more talented than pretty much everyone she plays. Williams is 4-0 career against Shvedova.

Women: Angelique Kerber (2) vs. Petra Kvitova (14), Roberta Vinci (7) vs. Lesia Tsurenko, Madison Keys (8) vs.

The top seed also hit a personal milestone with the victory in NY, registering a 307th career win to climb above Martina Navratilova’s tally for the most in the open era.