Serena Williams storms into US Open quarter-finals with crushing win over Kazakhstan’s Shvedova

The world number one needed just 68 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium court to overwhelm the 52nd-ranked Shvedova and surpass Roger Federer on the all time list of matches won at tennis’s four blue riband events. 

Shvedova did not put Williams under any stress and failed to even register one break chance the entire match against the 22-times grand slam winner. 

Next up for Williams is Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep, who beat 11th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5. Karolina Pliskova scored a dramatic 4-6 6-4 7-6(3) win over sixth-seeded Venus Williams in the quarter-finals. 

Andy Murray demolished Grigor Dimitrov 6-1 6-2 6-2 to storm into the quarter-finals in the men’s section. 

With the year’s final Grand Slam entering its second week Murray dispatched the 22nd seed in just two hours, signalling he is well prepared to extend a dream summer that has included a second Wimbledon title and a second Olympic gold medal. Bulgarian Dimitrov had ended Murray’s title defence at Wimbledon in 2014 and came out on top in their last meeting earlier this season in Miami but the second-seeded Scot was firing on all cylinders on Monday. 

He rated the match, which included a career-fastest 141-mph ace to close out the first set, as one of his best this season. Next up for Murray is Japan’s Olympic bronze medallist Kei Nishikori, a 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) winner over Ivo Karlovic.