Williams roars into last eight
Serena Williams’ yells of “Come on!” crescendoed right along with the tension in a fourth-round US Open match that began as a rout and suddenly became riveting.
When she ripped a backhand winner to claim the third set’s opening game yesterday, Williams let out her loudest shout of the day, leaning forward and rocking both arms. This turned into a test, and she passed it.
Williams reached the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for a 10th consecutive appearance — she wasn’t there last year because she gave birth to her daughter during the tournament — by picking her level up after a lull and using 18 aces to beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
“It was a ‘Serena scream.’ I don’t try to do it. It just comes out and it’s just emotions,” said Williams, a sixtime US Open champion who finished with more than twice as many winners as Kanepi, 47-22.
Next for the 36-year-old American is a quarter-final against 2016 runnerup Karolina Pliskova, who beat Williams in the US Open semifinals that year.
“It was a little bit different story, 2016. I was, like, a dark horse. Nobody was expecting me to get that far,” Pliskova said after beating No 18 Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-4.
The other quarter-final on the top half of the draw will be defending champion, American Sloane Stephens, against No 19 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in a rematch from the same round last year.
Defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal reached his fourth grand slam quarter-final of the season by getting past Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4, while No 11 John Isner of the US made it that far at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2011.
Isner defeated No 25 Milos Raonic of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and now faces 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro, who pounded 18 forehand winners in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No 20 Borna Coric and hasn’t dropped a set through four matches.
No 1-ranked Nadal, who has won 26 of his past 27 matches, plays No 9 Dominic Thiem for a semifinal berth in what will be rematch of this year’s French Open final, which Nadal won in straight sets.
Thiem prevented a rematch of last year’s US Open final by eliminating 2017 runner-up and No 5 seed Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
It will be Thiem’s first non-French Open quarter-final at a major and his first match against Nadal on a surface other than red clay.
“On clay, I think it’s one of the biggest challenges in sports to beat this guy or to compete with this guy,” Thiem said. “I hope it’s a little bit more comfortable on hard court, but I’m not sure.”