NEW YORK — The Williams sisters keep cruising along while other top women’s seeds go crashing out of the U.S. Open.
But it can only continue for one more match.
Venus and Serena posted identical 6-2, 6-1 victories in the third round Saturday. Another win, and they’ll face each other in the quarterfinals.
Four of the top 10 women’s seeds have lost, including No. 1 Ana Ivanovic. The sisters are the only two former champs still alive.
Venus opened play at Arthur Ashe Stadium by beating No. 27 seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine. About five hours later on the same court, Serena defeated 30th-seeded Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
The way both are playing and the way the top seeds are dropping, a repeat of their finals matchup at Wimbledon would seem quite plausible. Except for the pesky reality of being in the same part of the draw.
Serena, the No. 4 seed, has lost just 10 games in three straight-set wins. Venus, seeded seventh, has dropped 11.
“I think that definitely the Wimbledon win helped me a lot to change my mentality, to realize not every thing has to be perfect all the time,” said Venus, who beat her sister in that final. “That’s helped me to, if I don’t have a perfect practice, I don’t get really upset about the whole tournament.”
No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal came back from down a break in the second set to beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-3, 6-0. His next opponent will be American Sam Querrey, who reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over No. 14 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.
The 20-year-old Querrey came into the year with two goals: to win an ATP tournament and to raise his ranking into the 30s.
He has accomplished both, winning in Las Vegas in March and climbing to No. 38 in May. Currently ranked 55th, his next goal is to end the year at No. 32 or better so he’ll be seeded at the Australian Open.
The 6-foot-6 Querrey is considered the tall guy with the big serve against most opponents, but not the 6-10 Karlovic. In his second-round match, Karlovic led Florent Serra in the aces department 42-0.
This time, Karlovic only edged Querrey 24-20 and struggled to win points against Querrey’s serve. Karlovic managed just three break points and didn’t convert any.
“If I can get my racket on the ball, it’s not too bad,” Querrey said of Karlovic’s serve. “I’m a tall guy, as well. It’s up near my shoulders, where other guys it’s toward their head. … Against a guy like him, there’s a sense of urgency to every point, especially when he’s serving.”
Julie Coin’s magical stay at the Open is over. The world’s 188th-ranked player upset Ivanovic on Thursday, but her run ended in the third round with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to fellow Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, the No. 32 seed.
Venus Williams will next face No. 9 seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Radwanska beat 18th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-3.
Radwanska defeated Williams in their lone meeting, a straight sets victory in Luxembourg in 2006 when Williams was battling a wrist injury.
Williams came into the net 10 times against Bondarenko and won the point on nine of them. She said she’s trying to come in whenever she has the chance, because “that’s what I’ve been taught my whole life.”
Except she didn’t always do that.
“I was younger, and I didn’t listen that well,” she said with a laugh. “It was tough. But I’d like to think now that I’m wiser. I’m ready to listen to my coach.”
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