Sixth seed Venus Williams recovered from her marathon first round win by crushing Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-2, 6-3, at the US Open.
Dropping her serve in the opening game of the second round match, Williams responded by dominating the rest of the proceedings on the Arthur Ashe Stadium. There was no repeat of her inconsistencies from Tuesday, when she squandered a lead of a set and a break, as she found an answer to every question the German asked of her.
Thursday’s triumph over Goerges has rewarded Williams with her 70th win in the US Open main draw since 1997. She achieved her latest milestone with the help of 18 winners and three aces. A lot of happened to the 36-year-old since her debut in New York, but her passion for the sport remains unchanged.
“1997 was a long time ago,” Williams said on court after her victory. “I’m so grateful to be here still playing, still winning matches and I can’t wait for the next round.”
Another player to triumph on the Arthur Ashe stadium was Simona Halep. The Romanian fifth seed experienced a bumpy ride during her error-stricken 6-3, 6-4, win over Lucie Safarova. Halep produced twice as many errors compared to winners (20-9) and could only win 29% of her second serves. Fortunately for the former French Open finalist, she was substantially assisted by her opponents dismal error count of 44.
“It was not an easy match. It was difficult. At one point I lost the rhythm a little bit because she’s left handed, not easy to play against.” Halep said.
“I’m not the happiest with my game today, but I have the good feeling that I could win the match in two sets and I could finish in the important moments.” She later added.
In the third round Halep will play Hungary’s Timea Babos, who defeated Dutch qualifier Richèl Hogenkamp in straight sets.
Other second round winners on a rain-interrupted day include Czech 10th seed Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Montserrat Gonzalez 6-1, 7-5. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova required over three hours to dismiss France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5). Finally, Johanna Larsson enjoyed a more straight forward 6-3, 6-1, win over Denisa Allertova.
