NEW YORK -- In an intense, close and very entertaining game Sloane Stephens stayed right with Serena Williams. In the fourth round of the U.S. Open the top two American women put on a show as both hit powerful serves topping 115mph.
The Stephens 20, time at the top of tennis may come but for now, Serena Williams is still the top dog. Taking eight of the last nine games, defending champion Williams returned to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows by beating Stephens 6-4, 6-1.
"When you give her that opportunity to take that step forward, she definitely makes her move," Stephens said. "Unfortunately, today she made her move. I just couldn't get back in."
Still, all in all, it was remarkably compelling and, within individual points, rather evenly played for what turned out to be such a runaway.
"I definitely think it was a high-quality match," said Williams, 64-4 with eight titles this year. ''We both came out today to play."
She advanced to play No. 18 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, who defeated No. 8 Angelique Kerber of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Asked whether there's any chance of a letdown after getting past Stephens, Williams replied: "Absolutely not. I mean, I've been at this for a long time, so for me in my career, there are no letdowns."
In Sunday's other fourth-round women's matches, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska lost 6-4, 6-4 to No. 24 Ekaterina Makarova, and 2011 French Open champion Li Na eliminated 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-0.
In men's third-round action, the last of 15 Americans in the field lost, making this the first U.S. Open in history without at least one representative from the host country in the fourth round. Wild-card recipient Tim Smyczek, who is ranked 109th, was beaten 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 by Marcel Granollers of Spain.
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