Serena, Nadal reach US Open quarter-finals

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Six-time champion Serena Williams survived a spirited challenge from unseeded Kaia Kanepi triumph 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 on Sunday and reach the quarter-finals of the US Open.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion looked set to romp when she seized the first set from Kanepi in just 18 minutes.

But the hard-hitting Estonian, who took out world number one Simona Halep in the first round, settled down in the second, shaking off the partisan crowd in a jammed Arthur Ashe Stadium to break Williams and take a 2-0 lead.

After a Williams double fault gave Kanepi a break for a 5-2 lead, the American answered by winning the next two games.

But she couldn't convert two break chances in the 10th, and after Williams saved two set points Kanepi knotted the match with a service winner on her third set point.

Serena Williams sticks out her tongue when she runs to net to return a ball in her 3 set 4th round victory over Kaia Kanepi on Sept. 2, 2018. /VCG Photo

“It wasn’t an easy match at all," said Williams, who let out a roar after ripping a backhand cross court to hold serve in the opening game of the third set.

"She's had a lot of big wins in her career. I was just happy to get through it to be honest."

Williams took control of the final set with a break for a 2-0 lead, her 18 aces and 47 total winners proving enough in the end to put her through to a quarter-final clash with Karolina Pliskova, the eighth seeded Czech who beat Australian Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-4.

Pliskova defeated Williams in the semi-finals in New York in 2016.

Nadal to face Thiem in eighth US Open quarter-final

Defending champion Rafael Nadal on Sunday reached the US Open quarter-finals for the eighth time where he will face Dominic Thiem, one of only three men to defeat him in 2018.

World number one Nadal saw off a battling Nikoloz Basilashvili, the first Georgian in a fourth round in New York, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4.

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates his match point against Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia on Sept. 2, 2018. /VCG Photo

"It's a big victory for me," said the 32-year-old Nadal, the champion in 2010, 2013 and 2017.

"He was hitting the ball very strong and when I thought I was in control of the points, he always came back with strong shots."

It was world number 37 Basilashvili's strength, however, which proved his undoing.

His 56 winners were erased by 59 unforced errors which in turn were three times as many committed by Nadal.

Next up for Nadal, the three-time champion in New York, is Thiem who he defeated in the Roland Garros final in June when he captured an 11th French Open.

Thiem, who beat Nadal on clay in Madrid, booked his place in the quarter-finals for the first time with a 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) win over 2017 runner-up Kevin Anderson.

The ninth-seeded Austrian's three other appearances in the last-eight of a Slam have all been at Roland Garros in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Source(s): AFP