Digest: Serena Williams ties Open-era mark with 306 wins
Tennis: Looking rather displeased with herself at times, Serena Williams still managed to tie Martina Navratilova’s professional-era women’s record with her 306th career victory in Grand Slam matches on Thursday in New York.
Williams beat Vania King 6-3, 6-3 to reach the U.S. Open’s third round.
“I just think it should have been a different scoreline for me. I feel like I made a lot of errors,” Williams said. “But, you know, there’s nothing I can do about that now. What really matters is I got the win. Hopefully I’ll just get better.”
Really? This performance didn’t seem OK? After all, Williams delivered 13 aces with serves that reached 121 mph. She compiled a 38-4 edge in winners. She only dropped six games and needed all of 65 minutes to win.
“I just didn’t have a great day,” was her assessment.
Yes, there were problems. The 28 unforced errors The return game: She won only 13 of 40 points on King’s first serves. Williams did, however, smack one backhand return winner in the final game.
Delivering 13 aces with the roof closed at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and showing no signs of a sore right shoulder that she said requires “constant” treatment, Williams improved to 306-42 in matches at major tournaments, a winning percentage of .879. Navratilova retired with a 306-49 mark.
Only Roger Federer, with 307, has won more Grand Slam matches than Williams in the Open era, which dates to 1968 – and he won’t add to that total during this tournament because he is out for the season as he rehabs his surgically repaired left knee. Williams can equal Federer’s total by beating 47th-ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden on Saturday.
“Would like to take one more step,” Williams said while discussing her Slam win total. After a pause, she added: “several more steps.”
Choi leads Manulife Classic in Canada
Miscellany: Chella Choi ended up on top of the LPGA Manulife Classic leaderboard at windy Whistle Bear in Cambridge, Ontario, when Belen Mozo unraveled with a closing triple bogey.
Choi shot a 6-under 66, finishing with a birdie on the par-5 ninth.
Mozo was 7 under before running into trouble on the par-4 18th. The Spaniard finished with a 68.
Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn was four strokes back after a 70 in her bid to win three straight events for the second time this season. The 20-year-old Thai player began her latest streak at the Women’s British Open, and rebounded from a knee injury that forced her to withdraw during the Rio Olympics to win the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open on Sunday in Alberta.
NASCAR cancels qualifying: NASCAR has postponed all track activity Friday and canceled qualifying for its Sprint Cup and Xfinity races at Darlington Raceway in anticipation of Hermine bringing inclement weather to the South Carolina track. Hermine strengthened into a hurricane Thursday.
Both the Sprint Cup Series and the Xfinity Series had scheduled practices Friday and were supposed to qualify Saturday. However, in the revamped weekend schedule, both series will line up the field based on points in the standings.
Thompson reaches milestone in 200m: Olympic 200-meter champion Elaine Thompson ran the second fastest time in the world this year to edge great rival Dafne Schippers at the Weltklasse Diamond League meeting in Zurich. Thompson led only in the final five meters to clock 21.85 seconds – .07 outside the new Jamaican star’s gold medal-winning time in Rio de Janeiro.
Lampard scores two, NYCFC beats D.C. 3-2
Soccer: Frank Lampard scored his second goal of the match three minutes into stoppage time to give New York City FC a 3-2 victory over D.C. United in New York.
Lampard took a pass from Khiry Shelton at the top of the area, faked a defender and goalkeeper Bill Hamid with the right, and slammed it home with the left. NYC improved to 12-8-8.
United (7-9-11) led 1-0 late, but NYC’s David Villa scored in the 79th minute thanks to a crucial mistake by United defender Sean Franklin, whose back-pass fed David Villa on a clean breakaway. In the 85th minute, Shelton pushed it to the center of the box. Villa tapped it to Lampard before getting hauled down, and Lampard buried it for the go-ahead.
WNBA something something
WNBA: Marissa Coleman scored the first seven points of the game, finished with a season-high 19, and the Indiana Fever matched the WNBA record with 40 points in the first quarter in a 98-77 victory over the New York Liberty in Indianapolis. It’s the fourth time in league history a team has scored 40 points in a quarter.
Coleman and Shenise Johnson, who had a career-high 21 points, each hit six 3-pointers.
Indiana is two games ahead of eighth-place Seattle for the final two playoff spots. New York (19-9), third in the power poll, has already clinched a berth.
Tolliver leads Sparks: Kristi Tolliver scored 21 points and the Los Angeles Sparks beat the host San Antonio Stars 70-61.
Los Angeles (22-5), ranked second in the AP Power Poll, was coming off back-to-back losses. They drew even in the Western Conference with the top-ranked Minnesota Lynx.