Supreme Serena scores a superlative first – indoors
NEW YORK: After 17 trips to Flushing Meadows and six US Open titles, Serena Williams did something on Thursday night she had never done before – win a match indoors.
With the new high-tech retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium slammed shut because of persistent rain, Williams swept past American compatriot Vania King 6-3, 6-3 in a tidy 65 minutes to ease into the third round.
“It was a little different playing with Ashe closed but it still feels great,” said Williams.
“It’s very, very loud out there. It’s definitely different because everywhere you play is really quiet. Here it’s super loud.”
Indoors or outdoors, night or day, rain or shine, it has made little difference to Williams at the US Open, the 34-year-old having now racked up 86 victories at Flushing Meadows.
Williams’s victory against an over-matched King may have been one of her easiest, the world No 1 in complete control from the outset, looking like a champion who never had to shift out of first gear.
Despite the one-sided match, Williams was extremely critical of her performance, convinced it should have been better.
“I just think it should have been a different scoreline for me,” said Williams.
“I feel like I made a lot of errors, but there’s nothing I can do about that now.
“What really matters is I got the win.”
Williams arrived at the year’s final Grand Slam with concerns over a sore shoulder that hampered her at the Rio Olympics and forced her to pull out of a tournament in Cincinnati.
But she put any doubts about her fitness to rest, blasting 13 aces past King while hitting 38 winners to just four by her opponent.
“It’s stable, I just got to keep it like that,” Williams said of her right shoulder.
“It’s two matches in and usually you want to be able to play seven matches
“I definitely want to keep it as good as it can be.”
It seems every year history beckons Williams at Flushing Meadows and on Thursday she reached yet another milestone by tying Martina Navratilova for most career Grand Slam match wins with 306.
There are other marks well within the American’s grasp during the fortnight.
A seventh US Open title would move her past Chris Evert for the most in the Open Era.
It would also be her 23rd Grand Slam success, moving her past Steffi Graf, again for the most in the Open Era and one shy of the great Margaret Court, who tops the all-time list with 24.
Meanwhile, wild-card Juan Martin del Potro showed himself a force to be reckoned with as the Argentine swept aside American Steve Johnson in three sets to reach the third round.
Del Potro, who won the 2009 US Open in a thrilling five-setter over Roger Federer, has come through a long battle with a left wrist injury that has dropped him to 142 in the rankings.
The power hitter now appears back to full strength coming off a rousing silver medal performance at the Rio Olympics.
In Rio, del Potro beat world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round, 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafa Nadal in the semi-finals and battled Andy Murray to four tough sets in the final.
Del Potro, playing the final match of the day at Arthur Ashe Stadium, was competing on centre court in Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2013.
“It’s amazing, the stadium. It’s amazing, the atmosphere out there,” Del Potro said of his emphatic 7-6(5) 6-3 6-2 victory.
“I’m so happy to be playing tennis again after my third surgery on the wrist and I think I did a really good job to come back at tennis.” – Reuters