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Serena Williams, of the United States, returns a shot to Qiang Wang, of China, during the quarterfinals match of the US Open tennis tournament in New York on Sep. 3. (AP/PTI)[/caption]
New York, Sep. 4 (IANS): Six-time champion Serena Williams eased into the semifinals of the ongoing US Open with a straight-set victory over Qiang Wang of China at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
On Tuesday night, the 23-time Grand Slam champion was at her menacing best as she defeated Wang 6-1, 6-0 in just 44 minutes to register her 100th win at the Flushing Meadows.
"It never crossed my mind that I would get to 100," Williams said after the match.
Such was the dominance of Williams in the match that she lost just 15 points. In the second set, Wang managed to win just four points. The American had 25 winners while Wang had none. The only game Wang won was the sixth.
"I knew that I had to step it up or go home," Williams said of her mindset coming into the match against Wang. "I want to stay here, so I knew that I needed to play really well."
Wang had upset reigning French Open champion and No. 2 Ashleigh Barty to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Williams will now face No. 5 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine on Thursday to remain on course of her 24th Grand Slam. Williams leads their head-to-head 4-1, but Svitolina did emerge victorious in their last meeting, which was a shock upset at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro while Williams was World No.1.