Serena Williams fought back from a break down in the deciding set to take out 15th seed Maria Sakkari and book her spot in the quarter-finals of the US Open.
In a terrific contest, Williams kept her hopes of winning a joint-record 24th Grand Slam title alive with her 100th win on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It was far from straightforward. Sakkari served magnificently and fought to the bitter end, with Williams squeezing through 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 in a battle that lasted just short of two-and-a-half-hours.
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Sakkari had ended Williams’ run at the Western & Southern Open on this same site little more than a week earlier and was hoping to follow in Bianca Andreescu’s footsteps of beating the third seed in back-to-back events including the US Open.
But Williams had other ideas and recovered from a break down in the third set to maintain her pursuit of Margaret Court’s all-time Grand Slam record.
Asked if she was thinking about the defeat a week ago when she threw away one-set lead to suffer defeat, Williams laughed: ‘Oh yeah, jeeze.
‘Of course I thought about it ever so slightly but it was a completely different match and a different scenario, moment, so I just kept fighting.
‘She was doing so well, she was being so aggressive. I knew I had to do the same thing.’
‘I’m definitely match fit, I’ve gone through a lot of three sets. That’s good because I know I’m not only match fit but I’m fit fit so it works both ways.’
Williams held her nerve to save three break points from 0-40 in the fifth game of the opening set and was immediately rewarded as she broke in a marathon sixth game.
That proved enough to clinch the opening set, with the third seed guarding her serve resolutely to take a 1-0 lead.
A dramatic second set followed. In the 12th game of the set, with Williams serving to stay in it, she let out a piercing scream as a net cord dripped over agonisingly to set up a set point.
Williams held her nerve to save two set points to force a tiebreak but quickly fell 4-0 down.
After saving a further two set points, with her battling instincts kicking in, she caved at the fifth time of asking as Sakkari drew level.
In their meeting a week earlier, Sakkari had clawed her way back in similar fashion before running away with the decider and she started in similar vein, breaking in the first game of the third set.
Unlike in “Cincinnati”, Williams hit back in the fourth game of the set, passing Sakkari at the net with a forehand cross-court to level at 2-2.
In the eighth game of the set, Sakkari’s forehand crumbled on a third break point and Williams made no mistake in serving it out.
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