Serena triumphs, sets up matchup against Stephens
NEW YORK — Yes, Serena Williams won in straight sets again. And yes, she moved into an all-American showdown at the U.S. Open against Sloane Stephens. Still, this victory did not quite go according to plan.
Her serve only so-so at times, her footwork a bit off, Williams got by and got through Thursday night against an opponent ranked just 117th, beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-2, 6-4 and letting out a cry of “Yes!” at the end that reverberated in a nearly empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It sounded more like relief than excitement.
“The only thing that gets me flustered is really me, like, because I always feel like I’m not winning every point. I mean, like, that doesn’t make sense,” said Williams, who has won six of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at Flushing Meadows and was the runner-up the past two years.
“I just think with the pressure and everything that I felt like I just needed to be perfect. I always feel like I’m not perfect unless I’m perfect,” she said. “That’s not a fun way to live your career and live your life.”
Williams, whose older sister, Venus, was one of the few people in the stands, said whatever blips came Thursday “could help me know what not to do next time.”
That’ll be Saturday against Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion.
It is their seventh matchup; Williams leads 5-1, including victories in the past four meetings, but they last played at the 2015 French Open. Stephens’ lone headto-head victory came all the way back at the 2013 Australian Open.
This caliber of contest certainly doesn’t feel as if it belongs in merely the third round at a Slam, but that’s the luck of the draw this time.
“I’m playing such a good player so early,” Williams said, “so I have to bring what I can even more.”
What will also be odd: the quiet.
All spectators were banned from Flushing Meadows this year because of the pandemic.
“I know if there were fans it would be so lit, and I’m kind of sad that we’re not playing in front of fans, because it would be so fun,” said the 26th-seeded Stephens, who advanced by defeating Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-2.
Andy Murray’s U.S. Open ended with a straight-set loss to 15th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round. Coming off a five-set win in the opening round that lasted more than 4½ hours, Murray — a 33-yearold playing on an artificial hip — just did not have enough left in the tank.
Auger-Aliassime’s 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 victory allowed him to give Canada three men in the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil are the others.
Because of a downpour, Louis Armstrong Stadium was covered during the second set of 2019 men’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev’s 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over 116thranked Christopher O’Connell, and stayed that way for two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka’s 6-1, 6-3 win over No. 5 seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Matches on all the outside courts were suspended in the evening because of the shower.
Earlier winners included No. 2 Dominic Thiem, No. 11 Karen Khachanov, 2014 champion Marin Cilic and unseeded Americans Frances Tiafoe and J.J. Wolf.
No. 14 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 25 Milos Raonic were eliminated.
No. 9 seed Johanna Konta lost 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 to Sorana Cirstea, and No. 10 Garbine Muguruza — who owns two major titles — was beaten 7-5, 6-3 by Tsvetana Pironkova, who took a three-year break from professional tennis to have a son and is in her first tournament since Wimbledon in 2017.