Serena Williams wasn’t troubled in her US Open third-round match against world No.44 Karolina Muchova, the Czech who shined bright at this year’s Wimbledon by reaching the quarterfinals with a win over former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova.
Muchova’s Grand Slam main draw debut happened at Flushing Meadows last year and she reached the third round, just as this year, when her ranking is 158 spots higher. It’s interesting that the 23-year-old has won 19 main-draw matches in her career, while as many as nine of them came at Grand Slams. That impressive number wasn’t increased on Friday in New York, as Williams routinely eliminated the up-and-coming Czech 6-3 6-2.
The beginning of the match on Arthur Ashe Stadium was competitive, but from 2-3 in the first set, Williams reeled off seven straight games for a 3-0 lead in the second set and even though Muchova got the set back on serve, Williams soon recorded two more breaks to make the fourth round in one hour and 14 minutes. It’s interesting that in her entire career Serena has lost just 18 matches to players ranked outside the Top 40, while she now owns 359 such wins.
In the fourth round, the eighth-seeded Williams will face seed No.22 Petra Martic, who upset 12th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-4 6-3 to make the second week.
