Serena Williams battled past Maria Sakkari 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 to win her 100th match on Arthur Ashe Stadium and reach her 54th Grand Slam quarterfinal. How crazy are these numbers?!
The third-seeded Williams avenged her recent Cincinnati loss to Sakkari, but it could have easily been another come-from-behind win for the Greek. In the first two sets, seed No.15 Sakkari converted none of her five break points, but she managed to edge the second set in a tiebreak and then opened the decider with a 2-0 lead. The six-time US Open champion Williams won three games in a row to get the set back on serve. After breaking Sakkari for a 5-3 lead, Williams served it out on her second match point to win in two hours and 29 minutes.
In the quarterfinals, Williams will play fellow mom Tsvetana Pironkova, as the Bulgarian continues her fairytale run at her first tournament after more than three years away from the Tour. After upsetting No.10 seed Garbine Muguruza and No.18 seed Donna Vekic, having lost her previous six Slam meetings against seeded players, Pironkova defeated Alize Cornet 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 in the fourth round to make her career-best showing at the US Open.
