USA TODAY International Edition
Serena dominates Stephens in straight- sets victory
Murray, Djokovic, Bryan brothers win
NEW YORK For a while, the hyped rematch between Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens was worthy of the buildup. All of a sudden, it was over.
Williams, who lost to Stephens in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open this year, dominated the second set on the way to a 6- 4, 6- 1 victory in the fourth round of the U. S. Open.
After she served out the match, in 1 hour, 28 minutes, Williams rushed to the net for what appeared to be a warm handshake. There were smiles from each, the 31- year- old 16- time Grand Slam singles champ and the 20- year- old rising star.
“Going into the match I definitely wanted to be focused the whole time,” Williams said. “That’s all I wanted to do. Whether I was going to win or lose, I just wanted to play my game and do well.”
There was big buildup, not only because it was a clash of Americans of different generations at the top of the game but also because of what happened in the weeks after that January upset.
After the Australian Open, a brou- haha erupted over comments Stephens made in a magazine article — calling Williams a phony, among other things. There were un- followings on Twitter. There was a general media feeding frenzy.
Even though Williams, at least publicly, stayed above the fray, there was clear tension leading into the match.
Williams, the defending champion, will face Carla Suarez Navarro of
Spain next in the quarterfinals.
Murray moves on:
Defending champion Andy Murray needed a set to find his rhythm against 47thranked Florian Mayer, then rolled the rest of the way to a 7- 6 ( 7- 2), 6- 2, 6- 2 victory Sunday in the third round. He’ll next face 65th- ranked Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who won a five- setter against No. 20seeded Andreas Seppi 6- 3, 6- 4, 2- 6, 3- 6, 6- 1.
Top- seeded Novak Djokovic moved into the fourth round by beating 95th- ranked Joao Sousa of Portugal 6- 0, 6- 2, 6- 2.
Meanwhile, the worst season in U. S. men’s tennis history came to a ignominious conclusion Sunday when Tim Smyczek lost to Marcel Granollers of Spain. For the first time no American men reached the fourth round at the U. S. Open.
The top- ranked American, No. 17 John Isner, lost in the third round Saturday in four sets to Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The top- seeded Bryan brothers — Bob and Mike — won their thirdround match over Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 6- 7 ( 1- 7), 7- 5, 6- 2 to keep their quest to win a calendar- year Grand Slam alive.