I finally made a quarter-final: Serena Williams' year gets better at US Open
Defending champion puts grand slam frustration behind her, while Canadian poster girl Eugenie Bouchard falls victim to heat - and Russian 17th seed Ekaterina Makarova
Five-time champion Serena Williams reached her first grand slam quarter-final of 2014 at the US Open but Canadian poster girl Eugenie Bouchard, struggling in the heat and humidity, was knocked out.
World number one Williams, the two-time defending champion, eased past world number 50 Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3 for a fourth win over the Estonian and goes on to face fellow 32-year-old Flavia Pennetta of Italy in a clash of the two oldest remaining players in the draw.
“It’s my first quarter-final of the year at the majors – at last I did it,” said the American, who had fallen in the fourth round in Australia, the third round at Wimbledon and suffered a second round French Open exit.
“It was a tough match. Kaia hits the ball very hard and moves the ball around really well. I wanted to stay relaxed and told myself that whatever happens, Serena, you’re still in the doubles.”
Wimbledon runner-up Bouchard called the medical timeout at 3-2 down in the second set when she was obviously struggling in the 31-degree Celsius heat and humidity running at 60 per cent.
She slipped 4-2 down, broke back for 4-3 but left-handed Makarova was too strong for the ailing Canadian as she booked a spot in the last-eight for the second successive year.
“I was feeling very light headed and dizzy on the court, just seeing things a little blurry. I just generally didn’t feel good,” said Bouchard, whose defeat meant that for only the second time in the Open era there will be just one top-eight seed in the quarter-finals of a major.
“It developed as the match went on. I have had a few late, tough matches here, and I don’t think I fully recovered from those.”
Makarova next faces former world number one Victoria Azarenka, the runner-up to Williams in 2012 and 2013, who came back from a set down to defeat 145th-ranked Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Pennetta made the semi-finals in 2013, where she was defeated by Azarenka, and despite having a 5-0 losing record against Williams, she refuses to believe that the outcome of Wednesday’s quarter-final is a foregone conclusion.
“Of course she’s better than me, but I still believe I can beat her. If she doesn’t have a good day I can do that,” said Pennetta of an opponent who has dropped just 17 games in four rounds.
The quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw take place on Tuesday and feature 17-year-old Belinda Bencic up against China’s Peng Shuai, while former world number one and 2009 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki faces Italy’s Sara Errani.