For the first time ever, there will be three mothers entering the quarterfinals of the United States Open according to Chris Evert of ESPN. They are Serena Williams of the United States, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, and Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
Williams reached the final eight on the women’s side at the U.S. Open for an unprecedented 17th time on Monday. She advanced by beating the 15th seed, Maria Sakkari of Greece, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. Interestingly, Sakkari had beaten Williams in the Western & Southern Open just prior to the United States Open in the third round by a score of 5-7, 7-6, 6-1.
Williams, the third seed, will next face Pironkova, the 2010 Wimbledon semifinalist. Heading into the U.S. Open, Pironkova had not played since Wimbledon of 2017 due to pregnancy, and the birth of her son in April of 2018. In the U.S. Open to date, Pironkova has played tennis at a high level. She has beaten seeded players Garbine Muguruza of Spain and Donna Vekic of Croatia, and reached the quarterfinals by beating Alize Cornet of France in the round of 16.
Azarenka meanwhile, is a two-time grand slam champion, having won the Australian Open twice in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, you could have made the argument that Azarenka was the best women’s tennis player in the world. That year she also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon and the finals at the U.S. Open. At the 2020 U.S. Open, Azarenka has also beaten two seeded players. She knocked off fifth-seed Belarussian compatriot Aryna Sabalenka 6-1, 6-3 quite easily in the second round, and then 20th seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in the fourth round. in the quarterfinals, Azarenka will face the 15th seed, Elise Mertens of Belgium, the 2018 Australian Open semifinalist.
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