Serena Williams hits top gear to end Maria Sakkari's challenge at US Open

Serena Williams appears to be building something in New York. At the US Open on Monday afternoon she played her best match of the year so far, beating Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 in two and a half hours to reach her 53rd career grand slam quarter-final.

Just 12 days ago the pair met in one of the worst matches of Williams’s career. After Williams led 7-5, 5-3 and served for the win, Sakkari recovered to grind out the second set on a tight tiebreak having been two points from defeat. In the third set, Williams began to cramp and, as all looked lost, she seemed to lose interest. Sakkari won 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.

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Sakkari is one of the most improved players over the past couple of years. Alongside young British coach Thomas Hill, she has risen from outside of the top 50 to the top 20. Although she stands at only 5ft 8in, strong and fast, she is one of the most athletically impressive players in the game. During lockdown, when it seemed the US Open would not take place and missing the taste of competition, she considered competing at the Greek National Athletics Championships in the 100m after recording a time of 12.7 seconds.

Although there may have been doubts swirling around her head a week ago, she arrived on Arthur Ashe Stadium emboldened by her recent success against Williams. It was the Greek who controlled the points early on, setting the tone in her opening service game by throwing down three aces and touching 117mph with her first serve. As she created triple break point on Williams’s serve at 2-2, a surprising stat appeared: both Sakkari’s backhand and forehand had been on average 10mph faster than her opponent’s in the opening five games.

Williams responded quickly, saving all three break points to hold serve and then rolling with the momentum, breaking serve in the following game and eventually seeing out the first set with a second serve ace down the T.

But where other players would have felt the match slipping away, Sakkari did not panic. Throughout the second set, Sakkari stood firmly on the baseline and continued to play the match on her terms.

It was Williams who was constantly forced to react: she fended off two set points in her service game at 5-6, she recovered from a 4-0 deficit in the second-set tiebreak and then she saved two set points from 4-6. As Sakkari’s backhand tore through the unusually fast US Open courts, Williams could not quite keep up. By the end of the second set, Sakkari had served more aces and hit more winners.

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As Williams entered the final set panting audibly between most points, it seemed another defeat could be on the cards. Sakkari continued to control the neutral rallies, moving up 2-0 in the third set. But from that perilous spot, Williams found another gear, winning three games in a row. At 3-3 and 30-30, she thundered a 124mph ace down the T and punctuated her hold of serve with a roar. With everything on the line at 3-4 in the third set, Sakkari finally relented as she lost her serve with three unforced errors. This time, Williams ensured she would not have another chance.

Despite the disappointment of losing in four grand slam finals across 2018 and 2019, Williams played many quality matches along the way. This year has been different. Her level of play has dropped, her feet have been slower, her timing in both groundstrokes has been problematic and few opponents have hesitated to impose their games on her. But on Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she secured a 100th win at the venue, she may have just turned a corner.