US Open | Serena wins record 307th GS match ; Sania, Bopanna advance
In her quest for the 23rd title, Serena Williams took down another milestone - a record 307th Grandslam win with her US Open third-round match. Sania Mirza advanced in the women's doubles, while Rohan Bopanna and his partner won their second round match-up to stay alive in the mixed doubles event.
Indian
Seventh seeds Sania Mirza and partner Barbora Strycova defeated the Swiss- American pair of Viktorija Golubic and Nicole Melichar in the second round of the women's doubles. Mirza and Strycova had an easy first set as they ran away with a 5-0 lead breaking their opponents both times initially on their serve. They finally wrapped it up 6-2.
However, the Swiss-American pair took an early 2-0 lead in the second and went on to 5-3. Mirza and Strycova clawed back and enforced the tie-break in the second set. In the tie-break, Sania served out the match point to win 6-2, 7-6(5).
The other victorious Indian on the day Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski won a nail-biting match to eventually down sixth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Andrea Hlavackova. After losing the first set 5-7, the Indo-Canadian pair won the second 6-3. In the tie-breaker, Bopanna and Dabrowski managed to win 10-7 to reach the third round of the mixed doubles.
However, Leander Paes and Martina Hingis were not so lucky as they lost to the American pair of Coco Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram. Paes and Hingis won the second set 6-3 after losing the first set in the tie-breaker by a mile. The tie-breaker had gone only one way as they lost 7-1.
But the tie-breaker for the match was another story. The two pairs were neck-to-neck until 8-8, and then Paes and Hingis managed to save three match points but were eventually downed 11-13.
International
It was a double whammy for Serena – not only did she surpass Martina Navratilova for most Grand Slam match wins by a woman, but also she matched Roger Federer's similar record in the men's arena.
Serena's record 307th win came against Sweden's Johanna Larsson who she brushed aside 6-2, 6-1.
"To be up there with both men and women is something that's super-rare, and it actually feels good," said Williams.
"Obviously I want to keep that number going higher," added Williams, who also said she feels better about the shoulder that has troubled her of late.
"It definitely feels solid," she said. "I'm doing a lot of work on it so I can keep it in this position," reported AFP.
Women's fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also got through with ease as she won against France's Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-3.
World No. 5 Simona Halep dropped a set against Timea Babos of Hungary but hung on to wrest a third set that lasted more than an hour. Halep won 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 finally to advance into the fourth round.
In the men's section, Stan Wawrinka huffed and puffed his way to the fourth round – Stan had to save a match point in the fourth set before pulling off an easy decider in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 victory over Britain's Dan Evans. Dan Evans who has played two four-setters in his past two rounds, while also playing in the doubles circuit just could not hold on when the match ran into five sets.
"I was lucky to get through, saving match point," said the 31-year-old Wawrinka.
Meanwhile, contender Andy Murray dug himself into a hole time and again but somehow managed to eke out a 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win against Paolo Lorenzi of Italy.
"I was making a lot of unforced errors and (Lorenzi) is very solid, and doesn't give you cheap points.
"I was looking for those cheap points too often," Murray said, reported AFP.
Sixth-seed Kei Nishikori also won a four-setter 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 over France's Nicolas Mahut.
Juan Martin del Potro continued his comeback trail with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Spaniard David Ferrer where he fired in 37 winners. However, it will be a tough task ahead of him when he lines up against Austrian Dominic Thiem in the next round.
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