U.S. women going strong in Flushing

With Serena Williams becoming a mother for the first time, the U.S. Open has provided a preview of what American women’s tennis eventually will look like without the sport’s biggest star.

Through one week, the future looks sublime.

While 37-year-old Venus Williams carried her family into the fourth round Friday afternoon — shortly after her 35-year-old sister gave birth to a baby girl — a young crop of American women have put themselves in position for star-making runs, with Serena, the 23-time grand slam winner, sitting out the tournament she has won on six occasions.

For the first time since 2013, Sloane Stephens reached the fourth round, with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Ashleigh Barty. That continued Stephens’ remarkable comeback after she missed 10 months on tour with a foot injury. Stephens, who will next face 30th-seeded Julia Goerges, will attempt to reach a grand slam quarterfinal for the first time since Wimbledon in 2013.

“Because no one’s seen me in like 10 months, [the fans are] maybe a little more excited to see me,” Stephens said. “I think having surgery, being on that peg leg, not being able to live my life the way I wanted to ... I just needed to just appreciate all the things I had in my life.

“I knew that one day ... I’d be playing tennis again, things would be going good and looking up. I kind of held that in front of me and hoped one day I would be back to where I wanted to be. That’s kind of what kept me going.”

In total, seven American women reached at least the third round. Two already advanced to the Round of 16 and four more still can move on.

Aside from Venus Williams, Stephens, 20th-seeded Coco Vandeweghe and 15th-seeded Madison Keys are the most familiar faces remaining in the field, joined by 22year-old Pennsylvania native Jennifer Brady and 24-year-old Shelby Rogers — who won the longest women’s singles match in U.S. Open history in the second round (3 hours, 33 minutes). Sofia Kenin, 18, failed in her bid to advance, losing to Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-2 on Friday night.

Rogers and Keys could meet in the fourth round, but none of the other Americans could possibly square off until the quarterfinals.

Besides the Williams sisters, no American woman has reached a major final since Lindsay Davenport was the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2005. Besides the Williams sisters, no American woman has won a Grand Slam event since Jennifer Capriati claimed the 2002 Australian Open.