Serena Williams serves the ball during her Women's Singles fourth round match against Maria Sakkari at the 2020 US Open on Sept. 7, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York City.
Serena Williams passed another test as U.S. women went three-for-four in the fourth round of the US Open.
The third-seeded Williams won Monday afternoon to reach her 12th consecutive US Open quarterfinals, joining No. 28 Jennifer Brady and unseeded Shelby Rogers, who won their fourth-round matches on Sunday. However, No. 2 Sofia Kenin, the defending Australian Open champ, fell in her attempt to join them on Monday night.
Meanwhile, the last U.S. man, Frances Tiafoe, also saw his US Open run end in the Round of 16 on Monday.
The 21-year-old Kenin was in the tournament’s fourth round for the first time, but in the nightcap at Arthur Ashe Stadium she fell 6-3, 6-3 to No. 16 Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Her loss means Williams is now the top remaining seed.
Competing several hours earlier in the same stadium, Williams needed a late rally to defeat Greece’s Maria Sakkari. The 38-year-old Williams, who is seeking her record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title, took the first set 6-3, but the 15th-seeded Sakkari came back to win the second set 7-6 (6), and then built a 2-0 lead in the third. The veteran Williams turned it on from there, though, winning 6-3 and moving on to a quarterfinal showdown with Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday.
One day earlier, Brady beat No. 17 Angelique Kerber of Germany in straight sets while Rogers upset No. 6 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in three sets, two of them being decided by tiebreakers. Rogers, who at age 27 is in her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, will face Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the fourth seed and 2018 US Open champ, on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Brady, who is in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, plays No. 23 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, also on Tuesday.
On the men’s side, Tiafoe’s run finally came to an end at the hands of No. 3 Daniil Medvedev of Russia. The 22-year-old Tiafoe, who was unseeded, was in the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time but lost 6-4, 6-1, 6-0.
This year’s US Open, which is being held without fans and with strict social distancing protocols in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, wraps up this weekend with the women’s final on Saturday and the men finishing on Sunday.
