Earlier on Monday, American tennis star Serena Williams battled past Greek player Maria Sakkari. In all honesty, Williams was seeking redemption after losing to Sakkari back in the Western & Southern Open. Williams won the competitive encounter 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-3 to make her way into the quarter-finals.
With this triumph, Serena Williams is a few matches away from equalling Margaret Court’s 24 Major titles. In addition to that, the former World number one has also entered the last eight at the US Open for the 17th time in her long and successful career.
To her credit, Maria Sakkari was unfazed at the prospect of facing a player of Serena Williams’ caliber. Had it been someone else, there was a chance of them cracking under the pressure. Things were so close between them that only a single break of serve proved to be the difference in the first two sets.
During the second set, Sakkari truly became a threat when she forced a tiebreak and led 4-0 initially. However, Williams managed to rally forth and make it 6-6. Sadly for the home favorite, she made a couple of errors and handed Sakkari the second set, forcing the match into a decider.
Sakkari did make her sweat in the third set, but Serena Williams held firm and took a 3-2 lead. She kept the pressure on and steadily chipped away at Sakkari’s serve. Finally, she found a chink in the armor and got another break to go up 5-3 and served out the match, eventually.
Serena Williams got her revenge for the Western & Southern Open loss
After the match, Serena Williams spoke about her earlier loss and whether it helped her overcome the Greek. The 38-year-old confessed that those thoughts lingered in her mind briefly, but she managed to look past it.
“Of course I thought about it, but ever so little because it’s a completely different match and a completely different moment here. I just kept fighting,” said Williams. “She was doing so well and being so aggressive, I just knew I had to do the same thing.”
Serena keeping it 💯 on Ashe. pic.twitter.com/TNbEuyzjQn
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2020
It is worth noting that she is now the first player to record 100 career wins at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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