Serena Williams marches on in US Open, beats No.2 seed Anett Kontaveit

Serena Williams marched on to the third round of the US Open 2022 after a hard-fought win over Estonian Anett Kontaveit on Thursday. The 40-year-old, who is expected to officially announce her retirement at the end of the tournament, showed brilliant fight to clinch the encounter 7-6, 2-6, 6-2. 

There was little to separate the two players in the first set but it was Serena who produced a determined show to win the tiebreak 7-4. However, Kontaveit fought back in the second set to break the veteran twice and win the set 6-2 to take the match to the deciding third set. 

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Serena started the third set with a few unforced errors but an early break meant that she was completely in control and was able to extend her winning run in this year’s competition. 

The 23-time Grand Slam winner can equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 in this year’s US Open but there is still a long road ahead for Serena who last won a major title back at the Australian Open in 2017. 

Sakkari upset 

Third seed Maria Sakkari was eliminated from the tournament as she slumped to a stunning loss against China's Wang Xiyu. Wang, who is currently ranked 75th in the world, came back after losing the first set to clinch the game 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a see-saw encounter that lasted two hours and 43 minutes. 

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This will be the first time that Wang will compete in the third round of any Grand Slam tournament and will face either Alison Riske-Amritraj of the United States or Camila Osorio of Colombia. 

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