Serena Williams begins US Open with a convincing singles win over Caroline Wozniacki
She said she was not surprised by her performance, since she has often won at the US Open before.
After opening with a tight, early rally, Serena got off to a blistering start in the second, winning six of her first seven games, and then broke the record for total hitting points (821, breaking the previous mark of 803 by Martina Navratilova in 1991).
Williams’ next game was even tougher, against the world No.7, with both players going through a string of four-love games, and then Williams broke Wozniacki twice in the second game, winning 12 of her next 14 points, the longest winning streak of the match.
The two players remained tied when it came time for a deciding rally, at which point Williams won the opening match point with a passing shot, leaving Wozniacki with a match point. However, she missed it and the match continued to play out to a third game.
Serena broke again in the third game, which gave the American her fourth victory over Wozniacki, who had made her first singles career title challenge this year.
Williams now faces the Czech player, Petra Kvitova, who eliminated Serena from the 2012 US Open by one set of the match and one game in the third round. At 22, Kvitova is a world No.2 in the women’s game, and the second ranked woman’s player in history behind Martina Hingis.
Kvitova, a six-time Grand Slam winner, was seeded 12th at the US Open, having defeated the world No.5, Flavia Pennetta, in the last round of the clay-court event in Paris two weeks ago. The Czech will aim to become the oldest Grand Slam singles champion when she faces Williams.
“I will try to use