Serena Williams moves on to third round of US Open

Serena Williams, former world No. 1 and seeded 17th in the tournament, maintained her good performance at the US Open to advance to the third round by winning 6-2, 6-2 against German Carina Witthoeft.

The youngest of the Williams sisters needed only 67 minutes to seal the victory on Wednesday as she attacked her German rival with 13 aces, 30 total winners and 15 unforced errors in the second match she ever had against Witthoeft, the world No. 101, with a score of 2-0 in the series, reports Efe news.

The next rival of the six-time champion of the US Open will be her older sister Venus, 16th-seeded and two-time winner of the last Grand Slam of the year, where she beat the Italian Camila Giorgi 6-4 and 7-5.

Venus went to the third round in the US Open for the 17th time in her career and for the fifth consecutive year.

The duel between the two sisters, who share in total 30 Grand Slam titles, 23 by Serena and seven by Venus, will become the great attraction of the third round.

The Williams sisters will meet for the 30th time as professionals in the two decades they have been competing, including five times before on the Flushing Meadows court.

But the next round will be the second time in which they face each other as rivals in the third round of a Grand Slam, following the match at the 1998 Australian Open, their first professional match they played.

--IANS

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