SMOOTH SAILING
Serena moves into U.S. Open's second week with easy win
This started, and remains, a U.S. Open that is all about Serena Williams.
The historic climb continued Saturday afternoon with a very tidy 6-2, 6-1 third-round victory over Swede Johanna Larsson that took exactly one hour to complete. Williams hardly broke a sweat, and in doing so, she collected her 307th match win in a Grand Slam — passing Martina Navratilova for most ever by a woman, and tying Roger Federer for the all-time feat.
If she can make it to this time next week, she will have a chance to win her 23rd career Grand Slam title, passing Steffi Graf for the most in the Open Era. It would also be her seventh U.S. Open victory, passing Chris Evert for the most ever.
All of it adds up to Williams not just playing a tournament, but playing against history. At least that might give her more of a challenge than any of the patsies she has run over thus far.
“It is actually a really good feeling,” Williams said in a press conference that spent more time talking about the greatest athletes of all time rather than the match she just played. “To be up there with both men and women is something that’s super rare, and it actually feels good.”
Williams is aware she is an ambassador for the game, and in that role, she spent a good portion of her time after the match also speaking about gender equality. She said she wants the women to be paid as much as the men, not just in tennis, but in all sports. It wasn’t exactly Colin Kaepernick sitting for the national anthem, but it’s clear Williams is passionate about this topic and is longing for change.
“I definitely think there is a difference between the way male and female ath- letes are treated,”” WilliWilliams said.id “I alsol believe that as a woman we have still a lot to do and a lot to be going forward. I think tennis has made huge, huge improvements. We just have to keep that motto going for all other female sports.”
Well, Williams is the main attraction during this fortnight in Queens, and it was clear why. She completely overmatched Larsson, just as she did to her competitors through the first two rounds. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to get much harder, as she will face unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova in the fourth round Monday, and, assuming Williams wins, then the winner of 11th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro and fifth-seeded Simona Halep for a spot in the semifinal.
It might have seemed like Halep would pose a possible bump in the road, but she struggled to beat the 31st-ranked Timea Babos in three sets Saturday.
So the path is rather clear for Williams to keep advancing while staying fresh, with history still directly in her sights.
“I feel like I have been doing pretty good,” Williams said. “I have been being moved a lot, so I’m able to do all that.”
Williams, 34, was battling a shoulder injury early in the year, but still managed to win Wimbledon, which gave her 22 Grand Slam titles and tied her with Graf. She hardly played between June and now, only going to the Rio Olympics last month, where she lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round. Williams said she is getting treatment for the shoulder after each match, and that right now it feels “solid.”
“I’m doing a lot of work on it so I can keep it in this position,” Williams said of the shoulder. “I’m not really excited about, but at the end of the day I think it’s good for me.”