NEW YORK — Serena Williams avenged her major loss to Sloane Stephens, pulling away from the young American for a 6-4, 6-1 win to return to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Stephens beat a hobbling Williams in the quarters of the Australian Open in January.
“She’s definitely a good player, so it felt like something bigger, but I just had to stay focused for the moment,” Williams said in an on-court interview.
In the rematch Sunday, the 16-time Grand Slam champion served big and controlled points against the 20-year-old. From 4-4 in the first set, Williams won eight of the last nine games.
“The whole time I just tried to do what I wanted,” she said. “Stay calm, stay relaxed, stay composed.”
The 15th-seeded Stephens hung with the defending champ for most of the first set. After Williams broke to go up 4-2, she broke right back.
Serving at 4-5, Stephens had six of her 29 unforced errors. She was able to save two set points, but twice failed to capitalize when she had a chance to close out the game.
When Stephens hit a forehand wide, Williams had the set, and she took over from there.
“Obviously, she’s No. 1 in the world for a reason,” Stephens said. “I thought she played really well herself. Obviously, it didn’t go how I wanted.”
Williams will face 18th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro, who needed 2 hours, 41 minutes to edge eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Earlier on a humid day at Arthur Ashe Stadium, defending men’s champion Andy Murray staggered around the court between points.
Once a point started, he sprinted down every ball, as usual. Struggling with his breathing, Murray needed a set to find his rhythm against 47th-ranked Florian Mayer, then rolled the rest of the way to a 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2 victory in the third round.
“The expectations are higher, but there’s not as much pressure to win,” said Murray. “I feel much more comfortable coming into these events than this time last year.”
He’ll next face 65th-ranked Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who won a five-setter against No. 20-seeded Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-1.
Fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych routed No. 31-seeded Julien Benneteau 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 and has yet to drop a set at this year’s U.S. Open.
Berdych, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2010 Wimbledon final, will face ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka in the round of 16. Wawrinka beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (7).
Lleyton Hewitt, the 2001 U.S. Open champ, returned to the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2006. At age 32, the Australian is back from years of injuries to make another run. He beat 102nd-ranked Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic breezed past Joao Sousa in the night session, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.
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