Serena Williams was forced to take the court just before midnight on Friday for her match against Yaroslava Shvedova after Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Martin del Potro played late into the night and after a quick 6-3, 6-1 match, the most anticipated women's singles match was set as Williams is playing rival Sloane Stephens on Sunday at Arthur Ashe in the fourth round.
Stephens previously advanced over Jamie Hampton by a similar score of 6-1, 6-3 and now she will play an American for the second straight match in Williams, a player that she defeated at the Australian Open. Both are now into the round of 16 and both Stephens and Williams will be anticipating the match, as will the media, since they have played up the feud as the biggest in women's tennis since Stephens defeated Williams at the Australian Open.
Click here for live coverage of the match of Stephens and Williams.
One article from Deadspin refuted all the previous media reports about Williams being a "mentor" to Stephens and all that writing is one reason why the two have gone at each other, as Williams never took up that role, she was only given it because both are African American. That led to some sniping and some might call it whining from Stephens in the media, especially after she complained that Williams stopped following her on social media.
Williams started her match late but had no trouble taking care of business, dropping only four games and putting up 22 winners to just three from her opponent and afterwards she said she was looking forward to playing Stephens in the quarters. Making the matchup even more intriguing, Stephens' match against Hampton was the first meeting of two US players under the age of 24 since both Williams sisters did it and now she will be playing Serena on Sunday as long as the weather holds up. Victoria Azarenka also won and Stephens comes into the match as the 15th seed, while Williams is number one after winning it last year and also going on an amazing streak this year.
Stephens seems to bring her A game at Grand Slam tournaments and against Williams, as she is 15-3 in majors, but at about .500 in other tournaments and now she will have the chance to move along into the tournament with a win over Williams. Stephens has done well at the US Open, but she previously lost to Ana Ivanovic both times and she also advanced along with Li Na, who defeated British star Laura Robson, who defeated her last year in the tournament and Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced after a long match. Jelena Jankovic was able to advance in the draw, while the Williams sisters also advanced in doubles despite losing the first set in their match and they are looking for another Grand Slam victory.
