Serena through to quarters in record-smashing style; Murray also wins

Serena Williams stormed into the U.S. Open quarter-finals in record-smashing style on Monday (September 5) by easing past Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2 6-3 to claim her record 308th grand slam match win.

The world number one needed just 68 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium court to overwhelm the 52nd-ranked Shvedova and surpass Roger Federer on the all-time list of matches won at tennis’s four blue riband events.

Shvedova did not put Williams under any stress and failed to even register one break chance the entire match against the 22-times grand slam winner.

Next up for Williams is Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep, who beat 11th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5.

Meanwhile, Karolina Pliskova ruined any chance of another Flushing Meadows sister showdown as she claimed a dramatic 4-6 6-4 7-6(3) win over sixth-seeded Venus Williams.

At 36-years-old and the oldest remaining player in the draw, Williams battled until the bitter end as her 24-year-old Czech opponent needed five match points and nearly two-and-a-half hours in a seething Arthur Ashe Stadium to put away the twice champion.

Adding to the suspense, Williams also had a match point opportunity of her own which she failed to convert.

Since the draw was unveiled, tennis fans had circled a potential semi-final between the sport’s most famous siblings on American tennis’s biggest stage where world number one Serena and Venus have met five times, including twice in the finals.

Now it is 10th-seeded Pliskova, who will play Croatia’s Ana Konjuh in the quarters, who would need to complete a Williams double to reach her first grand slam final.

In the men’s draw, it may have been the Labor Day holiday in the United States but Andy Murray came ready to work, demolishing Grigor Dimitrov 6-1 6-2 6-2.

With the year’s final grand slam entering its second week, Murray posted a statement win by dispatching the 22nd-seeded Bulgarian in a speedy two hours to signal he is well prepared to extend a dream summer that has included a second Wimbledon title and a second Olympic gold medal.

Dimitrov, who ended Murray’s title defence at the 2014 Wimbledon and came out on top in their last meeting earlier this season in Miami, represented a potentially tricky opponent for the second-seeded Briton.

But Murray was firing on all cylinders, rating the match that included a career high 141-mph ace to close out the first set as one of his best this season.

Next up for Murray is Japan’s Kei Nishikori who was a 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) winner over Ivo Karlovic.

Juan Martin del Potro’s summer renaissance continued as the unseeded Argentine advanced into the quarter-finals when Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem quit their match with an injury.

Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open winner, whose career has been interrupted by a series of wrist operations and needed a wild card to get into the year’s last grand slam, has made the most of his opportunity by reaching the last eight without dropping a set.

The towering Argentine’s path was made a little easier when Thiem retired with a knee injury trailing 6-3 3-2.

Just 15 minutes into the match and Thiem up a break 2-1, it looked like Del Potro might be the player in danger of making an early exit when he called on trainers to work on his right shoulder during the changeover.

The problem, however, was not a major one, the 27-year-old Argentine returning to court and eventually breaking back at 3-3, sweeping four straight games and closing out the set with a thundering ace.

Del Potro continued to pressure the young Austrian in the second taking an early break to go up 2-1, Thiem letting out a yelp of pain chasing down a return.

Thiem attempted to continue but after a brief discussion with trainers called it a day, shaking Del Potro’s hand and exiting the court.

Del Potro will play Stan Wawrinka in the last-eight after the Swiss beat Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 6-4 6-1 6-7(5) 6-3.