Defending champion Serena Williams won her much-anticipated US Open showdown with Sloane Stephens on Sunday, while Li Na avenged a painful loss in Rome to join the world No.1 in the last eight.
Williams defeated US 15th seed Sloane Stephens 6-4 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals, winning eight of the last nine game in avenging a loss that ousted her from the 2013 Australian Open.
“It definitely felt like a bigger match because Sloane is such a great player, but I had to stay focused in the moment,” Williams said.
“I just tried the whole time to do what I wanted to, stay calm and stay relaxed.”
Williams booked a quarter-final against Spanish 18th seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who upset German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3).
Also booking a quarter-final matchup were Chinese fifth seed Li, who beat Serbian ninth seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-0, and Russian 24th seed Ekaterina Makarova, who upset Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 6-4.
Li, the 2011 French Open champion, matched her best US Open result by reaching the last eight.
“Maybe today was the best match of my whole life,” Li said.
Li improved to 5-4 against Jankovic, motivated by the sting of a loss in their most recent match in a round-of-16 affair last May in Rome.
Williams, who at 31 could become the oldest US Open women’s champion, and Stephens had not played since the 20-year-old prodigy beat the four-time US Open champion 3-6 7-5 6-4 in an Australian Open quarter-final last January.
The Williams-Stephens relationship was strained after Stephens accused the 16-time grand slam champion of being disrespectful and using intimidation tactics and mind games with her yells of “come on” – but both women said before the match that soured feelings had been repaired.
And when they met at the net after match point, Williams told Stephens: “I love you so much.”
Stephens said she was simply outplayed by the world’s best.
“I thought I played good. I played pretty solid,” Stephens said. “The second set got away from me a little bit.
“She’s No.1 for a reason. She played pretty well herself. She did a lot of things well.”
Williams rated the contest, played in windy conditions, a “high-quality match”.
“I was really focused. I just tried to be positive a lot on my serve. My defence was good. I generally have been playing better defence this year, moving better and trying to be faster,” she said.
Stephens set a goal of trying to crack the season-ending top 10, a move made easier because she has no points to defend the rest of the year.
“That’s a big jump from where I was last year, around 40 and kind of lingering. This year has been pretty good year for me. I’m going to try to end it with a bang,” she said.
