Serena battles past Gasparyan to boost hopes of landing 24th grand slam title
Serena Williams moved into t he t hird r ound of t he US Open and a step closer to the magic 24.
The 38- year- old American battled past Russian world No 117 Margarita Gasparyan 6- 2, 6- 4 on Arthur Ashe.
Williams requires one more grand slam to equal Margaret Court’s singles record, but has been stuck on 23 titles since winning the 2017 Australian Open.
But with the field decimated by withdrawals coupled with the shock defeat suffered by top seed Karolina Pliskova, Williams has an increasingly clear run to a seventh Flushing Meadows crown.
Williams will meet fellow American and former champion Sloane Stephens – who beat Olga Govortsova 6- 2, 6- 2 – in round three. “I’m just happy to get through and try to focus on the next round,” said Williams. “Sloane is such a good player, she plays so smooth. She looks like she is not taking a lot of energy and then suddenly bam! Five winners.”
Tsvetana Pironkova stunned Garbine Muguruza to reach the third round of her first tournament for more than three years.
The Bulgarian, a f ormer Wimbledon s e mi- f i nal i s t , retired following the Championships in 2017 and gave birth to her first child, son Alexander, but decided to give the tour another shot earlier this year.
Having b e at e n Li udmila Samsonova in the first round, Pironkova showed her prowess on f ast cour t s has not diminished by knocking out tenth seed Muguruza 7- 5, 6- 3.
Australian Open champion S ofia Kenin continued her winning streak at grand slams with a 6- 4, 6- 3 victor y over 17- year- old Canadian Leylah Fernandez.