Serena Williams reaches last 16 of US Open

Another past U.S. Open finalist, Roberta Vinci, also moved on Sunday.

No. 11 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Ana Konjuh, and No. 10 Karolina Pliskova against the victor of Saturday night’s match between Williams’ older sister Venus and No. 26 Laura Siegemund.

If Williams comes out on top at the conclusion of the U.S. Open, she could beat Steffi Graf’s record with a 23rd Grand Slam singles title.

It looked increasingly likely that Williams was going to consolidate the break with a 40-15 lead, however, the German found a backhand passing victor down the line and punished Williams’ second serve with a backhand victor, landing on the side of the line.

Hungarian Timea Babos put a scare into Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep, surging back in the second set and taking a 3-1 lead in the third before falling 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. After ending 2011 ranked 103rd in the world, she didn’t make it past the third round in a major the next three years. He’s had four tour wins and a run to the French Open semifinals this year. Venus Williams was scheduled to play later that night. She was too focused for Larsson and sent her packing in exactly one hour, 6-2, 6-1.

Their meetings included a Fed Cup fixture between U.S. and Sweden, their only hard court encounter, and the final of Båstad on Larsson’s home turf.

Larsson managed to win only eight points in the second set as Williams, who turns 35 this month, brought her to heel with victor after emphatic victor.

Williams has yielded no more than three games in any of the six sets she played in her first three matches, and she has shown no signs of problems from a shoulder injury that plagued her in recent weeks.

Serena Williams adds to her accomplishments.

“I feel okay”, Williams said. Dan Evans of Britain faded in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 loss to No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. Nerves overcame the Japanese youngster and she allowed Keys to go up 6-5.

Wawrinka, a two-time Grand Slam victor and twice a semi-finalist in NY, had the closest call, saving a match point in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 victory over Britain’s Dan Evans.

“That’s pretty awesome. What better place to do it than here where it first started”, Williams said of breaking Navratilova’s record.

Standing in her way to an elusive berth in the quarters will be either American Varvara Lepchenko or Ana Konjuh of Croatia, both unseeded. American Cleopatra, a full sister to Triple Crown victor American Pharoah, returned $3.60 and $2.60 as the 17-10 favorite. Champagne Room was another nose back in third and paid $2.40 to show. Halep will play the No. 11 seed Carla Suárez Navarro in the fourth round. She won 6/10 break points and 14/19 net points to do so.

Serena Williams’ day at the office at the US Open on Saturday was over after less than an hour.

Serena bested Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-1 in their third round matchup. Serena Williams fired 6 aces to none against Johanna Larsson. 26 unforced errors came from the German’s racquet and they were certainly not going to help Siegemund upset Williams. A year ago, Serena beat Venus in the quarterfinals. The last time there were two British men in the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament was at Wimbledon in 2002 with Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.

Yaroslava Shvedova advances to her first ever US Open fourth round appearance by defeating China’s world no. 51 Shuai Peng.