Mcilroy putts himself into hunt for £7.5m Fedex prize

Serena Williams now owns more victories in grand slam matches than anyone else in tennis’s Open era, surpassing Roger Federer with her 308th.

So, Serena, who’ll wind up with more?

“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Williams said during her on-court interview after reaching the US Open quarter-finals by beating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 on Monday.

“Hopefully we’ll both keep going,” she added. “I know I plan on it. I know he does. So we’ll see.”

Federer turned 35 on 8 August. Williams turns 35 on 26 September.

Williams’ very first win at a grand slam tournament came way back when she was 16, a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1 victory over Irina Spirlea in the first round of the Australian Open on 19 January, 1998. Her first loss at a major came in her next match, against older sister Venus.

Nearly two decades later, through plenty of highs and lows, from championships to health scares, the younger Williams is still at it – and still winning. “It’s a huge Beating Rafael Nadal at the US Open took a lot out of Lucas Pouille, and Gael Monfils took full advantage, reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final since 2008.

The tenth-seeded Monfils beat an error-prone Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in an all-french quarter-final that concluded under Arthur Ashe Stadium’s retractable roof.

Monfils, who turned 30 last week, had lost six consecutive major quarterfinals since reaching his only previous semi-final, eight years ago in front 0 Serena Williams has the most wins in grand slams. number,” she said about getting to 308. “I think it’s very significant, actually. I think it’s something that just really talks about the length of my career, in particular. I’ve been playing for a really long time. But also, given that consistency up there – that’s something that I’m really proud of.”

Although her 36-yearold sibling is active, many of Williams’ contemporaries have come and gone, including Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, who are both younger, and Martina Hingis, who is only a year older.

“I definitely never thought I would be playing still,” Williams said. “Now I don’t really see when I’m going to stop, because I’m just enjoying of a partisan crowd at the French Open. But the entertaining Monfils has been playing the best tennis of his career lately, winning all 15 sets he’s played during this tournament.

The 24th-seeded Pouille quite simply ran out of steam, winding up with just about three times as many unforced errors as Monfils, 44-15.

In the day’s first women’s quarter-final, Roberta Vinci fell apart after losing the opening set on a foot fault, allowing No 2 seed Angelique Kerber to take the last nine games and win 7-5, 6-0.

Vinci was the runner-up these moments out here, getting to break records that I didn’t even know existed or I didn’t even know was possible.”

Over her career, she has a win-loss ratio of 308-42 at the majors: 88 wins at the US Open, 86 at Wimbledon, 74 at the Australian Open, 60 at the French Open. Federer is 307-51 and can’t increase his total until next season, because he is sitting out the rest of 2016 because of problems with his surgically repaired right knee.

Williams, meanwhile, still has work to do at Flushing Meadows as she pursues another mark: most grand slam singles titles in the Open era, which began in 1968. She pulled even with Steffi Graf by collecting her 22nd trophy at Wimbledon.

Against the 52nd-ranked Shvedova, Williams hit a tournament-leading 126mph serve, totaled 11 aces, won 28 of 30 points when a first serve landed in, anddidn’tfaceabreakpoint.

She’ll try to reach the semifinals by beating No 5 Simona Halep next.

“I just feel like I’m going out there, doing what I need to do,” Williams said. “I’m not overplaying, I’m not underplaying.”

Monfils prevails over worn-out Pouille

at Flushing Meadows a year ago, reaching her first major final by stunning Serena Williams to end the American’s bid for the first calendar-year grand slam in tennis in more than a 25 years.

But after being two points from taking the first set against Kerber the No 7-seeded Vinci faltered.

Kerber, who has a chance to overtake Williams at No 1 in the WTA rankings after the tournament, moved into her third grand slam semi-final of the year. She beat Williams to win the Australian Open, then lost to Williams in the Wimbledon final in July.

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