This was Serena Williams near her sharpest on Sunday morning, punishing another overmatched opponent with powerful ground strokes and serves shot from her cannon of a tennis racket.
New York Times bloggers are following every serve, volley and replay challenge of the 2009 Grand Slam tournaments.
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Williams was in typical, dominating form in her fourth-round match against Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. Williams rolled into the quarterfinals with an easy 6-2, 6-0 triumph in front of a half-filled Arthur Ashe Stadium.
She improved to 22-1 in Grand Slam singles matches this season, an incredible stretch, even by Williams’s lofty standards. She won at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing only in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, or the talk of this tournament would be about Williams playing for a calendar Grand Slam.
Williams entered the United States Open as the defending champion and favorite, even as the No. 2 seed behind top-seeded Dinara Safina, who was eliminated on Saturday night by Petra Kvitova. In four matches, Williams has yet to drop a set here.
By beating Hantuchova, Williams moved one victory from a potential star-studded semifinal with her sister, Venus, who plays on Ashe later this afternoon against Kim Clijsters. (The sisters also have a doubles match later today.)
The sisters remain comfortable on these grounds, which serve as something close to their family’s second home. It was here where the sisters met in a Grand Slam final for the first time, in 2001. Here where they won five United States Open titles. Here where Serena won her first Grand Slam singles championship, a full 10 years ago, more evidence of prolonged Williams sisters dominance.
On Saturday, tennis fans witnessed their share of upsets here. Young Melanie Oudin toppled Maria Sharapova in three sets, before John Isner served his way past fifth-seeded Andy Roddick in the nightcap.
Williams made sure early Sunday that the trend would not continue. Hantuchova played to a 2-2 draw in the first set, before Williams took over, winning what seemed like every point and the next 10 games to close it out.
The run started with Williams serving at 2-2, and she won that game by booming three straight aces. Williams rushed the net and smacked a backhand volley to set up her first break point in the next game, and from there, the match was decidedly one-sided.
This was not surprising given that Williams led the series between the players, 7-1, entering the match on Sunday. The last and only time Hantuchova topped Williams was back in 2006 at the Australian Open.
New York Times bloggers are following every serve, volley and replay challenge of the 2009 Grand Slam tournaments.
Men
Scoreboard
Results/Schedule
Money Leaders
Women
Scoreboard
Results/Schedule
Money Leaders
Williams was in typical, dominating form in her fourth-round match against Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. Williams rolled into the quarterfinals with an easy 6-2, 6-0 triumph in front of a half-filled Arthur Ashe Stadium.
She improved to 22-1 in Grand Slam singles matches this season, an incredible stretch, even by Williams’s lofty standards. She won at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing only in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, or the talk of this tournament would be about Williams playing for a calendar Grand Slam.
Williams entered the United States Open as the defending champion and favorite, even as the No. 2 seed behind top-seeded Dinara Safina, who was eliminated on Saturday night by Petra Kvitova. In four matches, Williams has yet to drop a set here.
By beating Hantuchova, Williams moved one victory from a potential star-studded semifinal with her sister, Venus, who plays on Ashe later this afternoon against Kim Clijsters. (The sisters also have a doubles match later today.)
The sisters remain comfortable on these grounds, which serve as something close to their family’s second home. It was here where the sisters met in a Grand Slam final for the first time, in 2001. Here where they won five United States Open titles. Here where Serena won her first Grand Slam singles championship, a full 10 years ago, more evidence of prolonged Williams sisters dominance.
On Saturday, tennis fans witnessed their share of upsets here. Young Melanie Oudin toppled Maria Sharapova in three sets, before John Isner served his way past fifth-seeded Andy Roddick in the nightcap.
Williams made sure early Sunday that the trend would not continue. Hantuchova played to a 2-2 draw in the first set, before Williams took over, winning what seemed like every point and the next 10 games to close it out.
The run started with Williams serving at 2-2, and she won that game by booming three straight aces. Williams rushed the net and smacked a backhand volley to set up her first break point in the next game, and from there, the match was decidedly one-sided.
This was not surprising given that Williams led the series between the players, 7-1, entering the match on Sunday. The last and only time Hantuchova topped Williams was back in 2006 at the Australian Open.
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