Williams marches on; Barty pulls out of French Open

TENNIS

NEW YORK: Serena Williams kept her bid for a recordequalling 24th Grand Slam title alive with a gritty 63, 67(6), 63 win over Greece’s Maria Sakkari in the fourth round of the US Open yesterday.

Williams rallied from a break down in the final set to claim her 100th victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium and set up a clash with Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova in the last eight.

Pironkova (32) continued her dream run by beating France’s Alize Cornet 64, 67(5), 63. Playing in her first tournament in three years, the unseeded and unranked Pironkova had beaten Garbine Muguruza and Donna Vekic in straight sets last week, and prevailed over Cornet in a battle of wits in a nearthree hour contest.

‘‘It’s absolutely unreal. I really can’t believe it, especially that I pulled through today,’’ Pironkova said.

‘‘I was so exhausted by the end. I really didn’t believe I had it in me but I kept fighting and it paid off.’’

Belgian Elise Mertens sent Sofia Kenin packing with a 63, 63 victory over the second seed. Mertens capitalised on an errorstrewn performance from the 21yearold American to advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Mertens next faces former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, who rallied from a set down to beat Czech Karolina Muchova 57, 61, 64.

In the men’s draw, second seed Dominic Thiem thumped Canadian youngster Felix AugerAliassime 76(4), 61, 61 to continue his push for a maiden Grand Slam title.

Next up for the Austrian is a quarterfinal clash with Australian youngster Alex de Minaur, who beat unseeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil 76(6), 63, 62.

Also advancing was third seed Daniil Medvedev, who registered a 64, 61, 60 win over a listless Frances Tiafoe to set up a lasteight meeting with fellow Russian Andrey Rublev, who battled past Italian Matteo Berrettini in four sets, 46, 63, 63, 63.

Reigning champion Ash Barty will not play at the French Open later this month because of health concerns and a lack of preparation, the world No 1 said yesterday.

The 24yearold Australian has not played a tournament match since February and also skipped the US Open over health concerns relating to the Covid19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the French Open will allow a maximum of 11,500 spectators per day to adhere to strict Covid19 protocols when the Grand Slam is held on September 27October 11, the French Tennis Federation said yesterday. — Reuters