New York: Serena Williams battled through to the quarter-finals at the US Open on Monday with a three-set win over Maria Sakkari.
The number three seed was pushed all the way by her Greek opponent, who won a second set tiebreak and was a break up in the decider before Williams fought back and took another step towards a 24th Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 victory, completed in a shade under two-and-a-half hours
It took Williams two hours 29 minutes to secure a last-eight matchup against Tsvetana Pironkova, who overcame Alize Cornet, with the six-time winner extending her record to 105 wins to just 13 losses at major play at Flushing Meadows.