| Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 31 Aug-13 Sept |
| Safety: Chosen reside radio and textual content material commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Reside Sports activities actions Further, BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport site and app. |
Six-time champion Serena Williams progressed to the third spherical of the US Open with a 6-2 6-4 win over Russian Margarita Gasparyan in New York.
The American, 38, cruised by means of the opening set nevertheless found the world amount 117 a more durable proposition throughout the second beneath the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof.
The pair broke each other twice sooner than Williams secured an vital third break throughout the 10th sport to seal victory.
Williams now faces compatriot Sloane Stephens, the 2017 champion.
“She’s such an amazing participant – she performs really easy,” Williams acknowledged of Stephens. “She appears to be like she’s not taking up vitality, then ‘blam’ – there’s 5 winners. It is not easy.”
A handful of the 11 unforced errors Gasparyan made throughout the first set obtained right here in her opening service sport when she was broken no matter having led 40-0.
Williams then broke as soon as extra with an excellent overhead to go 5-1 up; although she misplaced her serve to love throughout the subsequent, the American bounced once more throughout the following sport to interrupt for a third time and seal the set in 35 minutes.
Gasparyan improved markedly throughout the second set at Flushing Meadows no matter going a break all the way in which right down to fall 3-1 behind. The 26-year-old, who recovered from three knee operations earlier in her occupation, twice broke once more and had Williams on the ropes as soon as extra at 4-4, sooner than the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion in the end held her serve.
The American, who remaining gained the US Open in 2014, broke Gasparyan throughout the subsequent sport to avoid most likely being dragged into a third set.
Williams, used to a giant help cheering her contained within the Arthur Ashe Stadium, acknowledged: “I just like the gang proper right here, nevertheless that’s one factor cool. I play throughout the stylish interval. There’s one factor additional calming about it.”
This was Williams’ 103rd singles win at Flushing Meadows, having handed Chris Evert’s Open interval doc of 101 earlier throughout the week. She is on the lookout for to equal Margaret Courtroom’s doc of 24 Grand Slam singles title.
