NEW YORK (USA): Serena Williams will be eyeing her 24th Grand Slam, but the superstar will have to challenge fellow Americans in her US Open quest including Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in a semifinal match.
The tournament start at the Flushing Meadows fortnight in a spectator-less COVID-19 quarantine bubble offers some challenges for the 38-year-old third seed.
Williams, one Slam singles crown shy of matching Margaret Court’s all-time record, could meet 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the third round and 2017 US Open runner-up and seventh seed Madison Keys in a quarterfinal before a chance at Kenin in the semis and potentially Czech top seed Karolina Pliskova in the final.
And that’s not even counting a possible fourth-round matchup against Greek 15th seed Maria Sakkari, who ousted Williams from this week’s US Open tuneup event in New York.
Williams lost in the US Open and Wimbledon finals each of the past two years, and with the England grass event wiped off the schedule by the pandemic, the US Open marks a chance to break through and claim a seventh title on the same courts where she captured her first Slam crown in 1999.
Williams will open against 97th-ranked American Kristie Ahn with Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig or Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan awaiting if she advances.
Spanish 10th seed Garbine Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one, is the highest-rated rival in Keys’ section of the draw.]
Kenin, who opens against Belgium’s Yanina Wickmeyer, could face another Belgian in the fourth round, either 16th seed Elise Mertens or Kim Clijsters, a three-time US Open champion making a comeback at age 37.
