New York
Serena Williams believes she avoided any serious injury after badly rolling her ankle Sunday in a straight-sets win over Petra Martic that sent her through to the US Open quarter-finals.
The 37-year-old American, seeking her 24th career Grand Slam title to match Margaret Court´s all-time record, routed Croatian 22nd seed Petra Martic 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last eight here for the 16th time. The main concern for Williams, a six-time US Open champion, in an otherwise routine victory was the state of her right ankle that rolled as she scurried to the net to hit a volley in the second set.
She called for a medical timeout at the next break and had the ankle heavily taped.
‘I feel fine right now physically,’ Williams said after advancing to a meeting with Chinese 18th seed Wang Qiang. ‘I just wanted to get, like I said, get some compression on it and tape it even stronger and that way I can at least try to finish the match.’—Agencies