Serena Williams was in pain — “acceptable” pain, her coach called it — after rolling her right ankle during second set of a U.S. Open victory. Williams, who turns 38 this month, appeared to be cruising along to a straightforward victory when she took an awkward step while up at net for a volley.  Williams immediately asked for a trainer, who ded tape to her lower right leg and foot during a medical timeout at ensuing changeover. She said, “I have to show up or else I’m going to go home.” 

Djokovic pulls out of his match

On a day that defending men’s champion vak Djokovic pulled out of his match because of a problematic left shoulder, good news for Williams as she pursues a seventh championship at Flushing Meows and 24th Grand Slam singles title overall. While she reached quarterfinals by beating . 22 seed Petra Martic 6-3, 6-4 despite ankle issue, . 2 Ashleigh Barty and . 3 Karolina Pliskova both exited her side of bracket Sunday. t that Williams seemed to care all that much about being one of only three of top 12 seeded women who will still be around Monday.

“I can’t afford to look at it that way. Every single match I have played, people come and y play ir best. women that I play are t generally playing at this level against or players in locker room, so for me, I have to be greatest, wher it’s against second seed, . 1 seed, or . 80th player in world,” said Williams, who faces . 18 Wang Qiang next.

She tumbled to ground and sat re, cross-legged, right in middle of Arthur Ashe Stium for a few moments. Williams has dealt with various health issues all season, including one that ended her stay at Australian Open.
Might that sort of thing be happening again?

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Still, Martic thought Williams’ play might actually have improved rest of way.

“She started going for, even more, I think. She felt like maybe she couldn’t move that well anymore,” Martic said. “Her shots were really precise. Serve was unbelievable. And when she hits those backhands and those first serves that well, it’s t easy to play against her.”

Williams ended things by raising both arms after smacking an ace at 118 mph, her fastest of afteron, punctuating an overpowering performance that included 38 winners to Martic’s 11. “I didn’t kw what to expect from her ball. I knew she (hits it) hard,” Martic said, “but until you feel it on your own racket, you just don’t kw what to expect.”

scene Sunday brought back memories of Williams’ Australian Open quarterfinal in January against Pliskova. Williams was way ahe — holding a match point at 5-1, 40-30 in third set — when she turned her left ankle awkwardly. From re, Williams was longer, well, Williams, dropping every point she served rest of way.

She failed to convert four match points in all that day, ceded six games in a row and lost 7-5 in third. That time, Williams didn’t call for a trainer, which surprised many. Didn’t make that mistake this time. And a couple of hours later, she was walking without any apparent hitch in her step. She figured she’d kw more about ankle based on how it responds Monday; she plays Wang on Tuesday.

Williams has t mand to complete a n-Slam tournament in 2019, withdrawing from each with one ailment or ar, including viral illness, a hurt left knee and, most recently, back spasms. She hasn’t won a title since returning to tour after having a baby; her daughter, Olympia, was born exactly two years ago Sunday.

“Best day of my life,” Williams called it.

Wang, who never h played in fourth round at a major until Sunday, vanced by surprising French Open champion Barty 6-2, 6-4. Pliskova, 2016 U.S. Open runner-up, went home with a 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-5 loss over nearly 2½ hours against 16th-seeded Johanna Konta of Britain.

This is only Grand Slam tournament where Konta has yet to reach semifinals; she’ll w meet . 5 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who got past 2017 runner-up Mison Keys of U.S. 7-5, 6-4 Sunday night.

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A "b shoulder" day

That was followed by Djokovic’s retirement against Stan Wawrinka in Sunday’s last singles match. Djokovic h been complaining that his left shoulder was hurting during tournament, and he finally succumbed, stopping while trailing 6-4, 7-5, 2-1. “ pain was constant for weeks w,” Djokovic said.

Wawrinka moves on to face Daniil Medvedev. Reprising his trolling role at Louis Armstrong Stium, . 5-seeded Russian again begged crowd to boo him even more after he beat qualifier Dominik Koepfer 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

“You give me so much energy to win. Thank you!” he said, similar to his interaction with jeering spectators after his third-round win. “You are best!”

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Roger Federer keeps up his surge

Earlier Sunday, Roger Federer kept up his recent surge, dominating . 15 seed David Goffin 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 in just 79 minutes. That’s one fewer minute than it took him to put toger a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win against Dan Evans in previous round.

“I mean, look, sometimes se scores just happen. You catch a good day, opponent doesn’t, n things happen very quickly,” said Federer, who lost in fourth round a year ago in New York but also earned five of his 20 major championships at this hard-court tournament. “Maybe he struggled a bit early on. But I found my groove after a while and was able to roll, really. Never looked back.” Goffin’s perspective?

“You don’t kw why you’re missing everything, easy balls,” Goffin said. “All of a sudden, he’s playing well.” Federer next takes on Grigor Dimitrov, a two-time major semifinalist who is unseeded at Flushing Meows.

Currently coached by Andre Agassi and Rek Stepanek, Dimitrov eliminated Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first U.S. Open quarterfinal. Federer is 7-0 against Dimitrov.

“Given history of me and Roger, how we’ve played past years,” Dimitrov said, “thing (favors) me.”

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