US Open: Serena into round of 16 with record win

“I expected long rallies”, he said after the match.

Williams revealed she first heard about Navratilova’s 307 grand slam singles wins at Wimbledon and says she takes great satisfaction in surpassing it.

Wearing pink sleeves and a white top and pink and white pleated skire, Williams overpowered Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, 6-2, 6-1.

There was little question of who she had in mind, although she acknowledged, with a satisfied nod, “It is me”.

With the second-round win at Flushing Meadows, Williams matched Martina Navratilova’s professional-era record of 306 Grand Slam match victories. Should she accomplish that, she will surpass another record held by Steffi Graf and make her the most successful female player in the Open Era.

Men’s eighth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria also enjoyed a birthday win, downing Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 on the day he turned 23.

On the men’s side, No 2-seed and 2012 champion Andy Murray plays in the afternoon in Ashe against 40th-ranked Paolo Lorenzi.

Suarez Navarro, seeded 11th, defeated 20th seed Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3.

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. Karlovic plays No. 6 Kei Nishikori next.

“Tennis-wise I think it was very satisfying in all aspects”, said her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. But it’s always good to get a win when you’re not playing well. Williams argued that disparities persisted between the way male and female athletes were perceived and paid. “And I’m an athlete first”.

“I definitely want to keep it as good as it can be”.

“It was really tough”, Halep said. “It was really good for me to have a different type of rhythm and just to move around”.

Larsson fought admirably but could never live with her record-breaking opponent, who said on court afterwards: “I’m female and I’m an athlete”.

Radwanska booked her place in the fourth round with a routine victory over French 25th seed Caroline Garcia, the Pole needed just 70 minutes to seal a 6-2 6-3 victory and a meeting with Ana Konjuh who saw off Varvara Lepchenko in three sets.

As cool as the breeze blowing through the open roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium on a comfortable Saturday evening at the U.S. Open, the perfectionist easily advanced into the fourth round of the U.S. Open by knocking off No. 26 seed Laura Siegemund in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. But before they can match up against each other in the semifinals, they must win first their next two matches.

There were some concerns about Serena’s sore right shoulder. She compiled a 24-5 total edge in winners in a match that lasted just one hour. She smacked seven return winners.

Her best result was a quarterfinal run in 2013, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams. She acknowledged she didn’t play her best, saying, “I don’t know how I came back”.